A Blueprint for Christianity and Your Friends

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Well, I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

We're excited about the new series coming up, and that's going to start in two weeks.

And after this morning, in fact, Deedra's going to kind of introduce the, we're talking about Jonah on a mission trip, called to do a mission trip, but yet he decided he wasn't going to do it.

And look what happened to him.

And so it's going to be an exciting time.

But also, let me just share with you coming up.

Next Sunday is going to be a very special Sunday.

Because we take the Lord's Supper here very seriously.

Amen.

So we've done it at night.

So we're going to change in this Sunday.

Well, hey, sis.

You did make it.

God bless you.

Where's Phil?

I know you didn't come back and say Phil back there somewhere.

I know.

I understand, sis.

I understand.

All right.

I knew I shouldn't have said that.

She hadn't changed a bit.

You got me.

I don't even know where I was going.

I said, we take the Lord's Supper very seriously around here.

We really do.

So next Sunday, I decided instead of just kind of giving you bits of the Lord's Supper, we're going to take the whole service.

And I'm going to bring exergetically look at 1 Corinthians 11 and the Lord's Supper.

It's going to be an awesome service.

Then we'll partake of the Lord's Supper together.

And then right after that, we're going to baptize.

We've got Paul's family to be baptized, the Methodists.

They were Methodists and they were saved and some sprinkled, but they're going to be dunked.

And you know, I'll let you bring you back up.

I will.

I'll bring you back up.

But I love dunking Methodists.

I really do.

And my heart was broken when I found out that the mayor was had already been dunked.

Because I really wanted to dunk him.

I was going to hold him under and just see how long he could stay.

But it is a joy.

And by the way, if you have not been baptized, and I know there's several of the girls too, with David that you and I talked about, I'm going to try to get by, you tell me Monday or Tuesday night, whichever's a good night, so we can sit down with them so they can follow the Lord in baptism.

So we've got another probably 10 people to baptize next Sunday.

Let's give God a hand.

Amen.

And also, if you've never followed the Lord in believers' baptism, feel free to talk to us about that.

We'd love for you to follow the Lord in baptism.

If you've never been immersed and you got questions, why do you have to be immersed?

We'd love to answer those or why we believe that we baptize by immersion for basically three reasons.

Number one, God commands us to be baptized, and the reason we do it by immersion, the Greek word for baptize is a baptismo, which literally means to place under.

Also, it was the way the Lord Jesus was baptized.

He was placed under.

The Ethiopian eunuch was placed under.

And uh John the Baptist was placed under.

So we just believe that it shows the definition of you being buried, burying your old way of living, being raised to walk a new life, a life like Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation, old things have passed away.

All things are new.

It really is a beautiful outward testimony of what's taking place in your heart.

Romans 6, 4.

So it's very important.

And the sooner you're baptized, the better.

It really is.

Because if Satan can keep you from being obedient, to the first thing he asks you to do after you get saved is to make it public through baptism.

He can keep you from being, hey, obedient in other areas of your life.

And he's a master at it.

1 John chapter 15.

And today we're going to be last message in the series on how to be an influence in your community, the blueprint for Christianity in your community.

And today, the title of the message is, and what a message it's going to be, God's blueprint for Christianity and your friends.

And your friends.

Can I say this about friendship?

I really believe this with all my heart, too.

You are the people you hang out with.

You are, and you reflect who your friends are.

Your friends have a tremendous influence on you.

And most of the time you don't even understand that or even know that.

And truly, today, what is a friend?

That's what we're going to look at.

Most of us call our friend the friends that we have would be acquaintances and not really friends.

And you will understand what a true friend is.

Dr.

Falwell used to teach us, he said, if you have five true friends, if you can count five true friends on one hand, you've got more real friends than most people.

Most of our friendships are nothing more than acquaintances.

They're not really friends.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

And praise the Lord and thank God for the acquaintances that we have.

But today I want you to see, and this is why I so adamantly say, you cannot be a sold-out Christian and not have dynamic Christian friends, because that is what the church ought to be.

Your intimate friends, hey, as a Christian, ought to be in your church family.

Can I get an amen?

That's why when people say, Well, I can worship God without going to church.

Yes, you can do that, but you can't have any friends.

Well, God said the other day when we were talking about this, I shared my heart about this message.

He said, Well, the only friend I need is Jesus.

I said, That's true.

That's the only friend you need.

I meant Jesus needs is you, but hey, you need more than Jesus.

He says, Why?

I said, look how bitter you are.

He went, hmm.

I said, You you you the reason you're bitter is you don't have any friends.

There's not a person in here that doesn't want a friend.

Hello, come on, owe me.

Every one of us wants true friendship.

We're designed that way.

The psychologists, all the research says that most of the problems that we have psychologically is because we do not have deep relationships with people that we can trust.

Hello.

That's why you have a church.

That's why you have a church, a church family that loves God and loves you.

By the way, hey, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the heart, hey, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy brother and thy neighbor as thyself.

So, this morning, let's look at John chapter 15, beginning at verse 9.

John 15 · chapter mention

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

Continue in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

Now, here's the key verse, starting at this part.

That was kind of the beginning of the paragraph, but here's the meat.

These things have I written unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.

You need joy to the fullest capacity.

Now, let me ask you, how many of you got up this morning and just said, I want to be grumpy, I want to have a bad attitude?

Huh?

Now, some of you got up and you were grumpy and you did have a bad attitude.

But I hope that wasn't your purpose.

Amen.

The purpose is to get up with joy and excitement and fulfillment and peace and joy.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10.

Nehemiah 8:10

I meant the joy, Jesus said these things, he wants you to be full of joy.

And in order to be full of joy, you gotta have some friends that you can enjoy life with.

And if you're married, your best friend, one of your best friends, ought to be your mate.

Amen.

That's the way, and your best friends ought to be your kids.

Amen.

That's the way it ought to be.

So, with that said, and then verse 12, he says, This is my commandment that ye love one another as I've loved you.

Now I love this.

Greater love had no man that laid out than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.

Now, here's the key verse.

Here's the key verse.

Are you ready?

Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.

That is powerful.

Powerful.

I want you to look at the word here to start with, friends.

Because again, most of us look at friendships as a as acquaintances and still friends.

Here's what the word friends here means.

It's a powerful word.

It means philo or philosophers.

Philos is really the I think the correct way to pronounce it.

It means devoted.

It means devoted.

It means the hey, the love existing between a family member.

That's what it means.

In other words, as friends, when we talk about philosoph, we're talking about being devoted to each other.

In fact, another synonym or another phrase is we are to be kind and affectionate toward each other.

In fact, really the word could mean companion.

It could mean comrade.

It could mean partner.

Tremendous basis here.

And in fact, I want you to see this.

I don't think I put it on there, but if I didn't, Benji, you can throw it up.

It's Romans 12, because God just gave this to me a couple of days ago after I turned the outline in.

Go to Romans 12, 9 and 10.

You got to see this because this describes what a true philosophy is.

Paul is talking to us in Romans chapter 12 and verse 9.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

And by the way, if you do not have a worship guide, please raise your hand.

Because I want you to have one.

Here's what we're going to do.

Let me tell you an exciting thing about our new small groups.

You keep that worship guide, you keep that outline because you go to your small group on Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, we're going to be discussing this message.

You will have four to five questions that you will discuss about this message.

So right now, as we're, hey, looking into the scriptures and exergetically taking these apart, you'd be thinking if there's questions there, application and how, you know, what is a friend to you and what you can do to, hey, not only enhance your friendship with people, but how can you be this kind of friend we're going to look at to each other?

It's going to be awesome.

So, and each week, that's the way we'll do the small groups.

It's going to be the practical application.

I'm giving you the meat, I'm giving you the theological uh foundation, but on the small group side, we're going to do the practical application.

How do you do this?

How do you become that best friend?

How do you become that devoted friend?

How do you become that partner that, hey, when everybody else walks in, they, I meant when everybody else walks out, they walk in.

Can I say, can I get an amen?

So that's that's where we're going.

So it looks, so hang with me.

Now, here we go.

Let love be without dissimilation.

Now that word means disguise.

In other words, let love be real.

Let love be transparent.

Abhor that which is evil.

Cleave to that which is good.

In other words, a person that's a devoted friend, they're not looking for the bad in you, they're looking for the good in you.

Amen.

Hey, I can find something bad about you if I want to after I've been with you 10 minutes.

You can meet too.

You can.

Because we all have sometimes attitudes and we say stuff we ought not to say.

Yeah, I meant so I meant I if my wife looked for the bad in me all the time, we would have a terrible marriage.

We would.

But she looked for the good in me.

If I look for the bad in her, I probably couldn't find any.

Somebody say, that's good, preacher.

Amen.

Did I do good?

Ivo, did I do good?

I'll shames me all the time.

I've got that one, Ivan.

I got that one.

But but really, it's looking for the good.

Now, watch.

Now here's where it really gets good, guys.

You want to write this down.

Because God just taught me this.

But be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another.

Unbelievable statement.

For you to just read that, you miss it.

I've missed it for years.

I've missed it.

Honor, okay, honor.

Honor's a good word.

We use it pretty flippantly because we don't understand it.

Well, let me tell you what scripturally this means.

When we say honor, a friend tries to do, now we're ready?

A true friend tries to outdo his friend by showing him honor.

I knew I wouldn't get a amen.

When's the last time you and I tried to outdo each other showing you honor, showing you respect?

When's the last time you know somebody, your friend walked up and you literally in your mind started saying, How can I help him right now?

How can I help her right now?

How can I take a burden off of her or him right now?

Hello.

You know, you're not thinking that.

You're too much talking about football.

I'm guilty.

Hello.

But that's what it means.

Look, it's eager to show honor and respect to a friend.

Now, if we did that starting at home with our wives and husbands, we'd have wonderful marriages.

Come on.

I knew it's gonna get high.

Y'all gonna be glad when I get through this series, aren't you?

Y'all glad this is the last message.

Blueprints are tough, aren't they?

Hey, hey, when you got up this morning saying, how can I really help my wife this morning?

How can I make it easier on her to go to church this morning?

How can I help with the kids so that she won't be frustrated when she comes to church today?

Have you seen some of the kids when they walk in here and the parents are?

Why don't you meet them and say, here, let me help you, let me help you.

One of the things I love to do and be at the front door, and I told Rick, I said, starting next Sunday, you're gonna be at the front door with me.

Because here's what we want to do.

We want to try to make when new people come, whether they have teenagers, they have children, we want to try to make it as easy and convenient for them and easy transition.

Let them know we care about them, let them know we want to be their friends, we want to help them.

Hey, that's what it's all about.

We're here to see if we can help you.

How can we help you?

Now, if we all started doing that, hey, we'd have to build on three times in the next year.

If you, when's the last time you got out of the doors?

It's raining, and somebody was there, some of our ushers were there with an umbrella to help you in.

It's awful quiet already.

This is what I'm talking about.

This is what it means.

I'm so I'm so convicted.

Hey, be kindly efficient one to another, brother love, honor it.

Going out of your way to how can I outdo?

What can I do to show you I love you and respect you?

Now look at the next verse.

Well, excuse me, verse 10.

That's it.

Now, with that said, go back.

Now go back to 15.

Man, this you gotta get this foundation.

You gotta get this foundation.

That's what phylos literally means.

Now, with that said, how do we how do we have that phylos?

Where does it the bases are?

Number one, the basis of Christian fellowship.

Look at verse 13.

Greater love have no man than this.

What?

What I just described.

We're not, we're seeking good for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We're trying to help them, trying to honor them, trying to whatever we can do to make them feel special and to help them.

It's really Galatians 6, 2.

It really ties together.

Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

You know what?

If we can be the church that this scripture teaches about really being a friend, if churches were really friends to each other, family to each other, ladies and gentlemen, we'd have a whole different world.

We'd have a whole different Westover mayor.

Amen.

That's what we want to.

That's a New Testament, that's what the New Testament was.

They were so strong brotherly and lovingly that when people had a need, if they needed to go sell some land or whatever they need to do to help help them, they did it.

Now we talk about that and we say, yeah, but that's that was back then.

Well, what's wrong with now?

Amen.

So this is we don't understand friendship.

We don't have friends, we have acquaintance.

You know why?

Acquaintance you don't think twice about.

You say hi, you're nice, and you're polite, that's it.

Oh me.

But a real friend.

Look at a real friend.

Lord Jesus made it quite plain that on the basis of true friendship is a love which is both two things.

Here it is.

Number one, it's spiritual, and secondly, it's sacrificial.

First of all, look at spiritual.

Number one, greater love has no man than this.

Our Lord quite obviously was drawing attention to the nature of his own love.

And let me tell you why.

Look at verse 9.

He had just said, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continue ye in my love.

And then he added, verse 13, here is my love.

Here's the love that I demonstrated to you.

Here's the love that I exemplified to you.

He said, Greater love hath no man than this.

And a man lay down his life for his friend.

This strongly implies, no doubt, in my heart, that no matter to what height human friendship will rise, now watch, this is so good.

It becomes Christian only when it is transformed into a love which is totally, absolutely, completely, and fundamentally scriptural and spiritual.

You gotta, for me and for me to out, hey, try to outlove you and try to outhonor you and outserve you, I gotta be filled with the Spirit of God or it ain't gonna happen.

Because see, when you're not spirit with when you're not spirit-filled and you're not filled with the Spirit of God, it's all about me, not you.

Can we all say amen together?

Say this with me.

It's all about me.

But if it's all about him, if it's all about him with me, then it'll be all about you with me.

I don't say that's good.

I don't know if it can, but I'll try.

I said if it's all about him with me, then it'll be all about you with me.

Isn't that good?

Write that down.

I need that so I don't forget it.

But that is it.

That's exactly what he is teaching right here.

Friendship, now I know you, and you know where friendship starts?

Let's be honest.

Where does it start?

With appearance.

We're usually attracted to supposedly friends or acquaintances by physical attraction.

They look good, they smell good.

I mean, you don't go around looking for people to stink, do you?

You were thinking it, so I said it.

And I know sis was thinking it, but anyway.

But now listen to me, listen, listen.

Listen.

And that's okay.

But let me tell you what my grandmother taught me early in my years.

Beauty is only.

Say it again.

Beauty is only.

See, the Lord sees not as man sees.

The Lord, hey, man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

1 Samuel 16, 7.

If Susan had been looking for looks, I don't think I would have should have married me.

Now I was pretty built.

But I did have hair back then.

But you know what drew her to me?

It wasn't my looks.

It's because every time I said something, I quoted a scripture to back it up.

And I had a little old pintoe, it wasn't my car.

I had a pinto station wagon.

Hello! And I had literally paper with verses taped all over the dash.

Because I was memorizing them.

So it wasn't my looks, Granny, wasn't my car.

What was it?

It was my love for the word of God in him.

Amen.

And then I quoted her verse.

No one had ever that she dated, you know, knew this verse.

So God say that verse for me.

Jeremiah 15, 16, thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I'm called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

Whoop! She fell in love with me right there.

Don't tell me scripture memorization doesn't work.

Am I right, honey?

She did.

I watched her, she went, that's my verse.

And I'm your man.

Don't you have fun coming to church?

Never know what my preacher's gonna say.

Woo! So, again, friendship does not reach its consummation until it is transformed into a spiritual love.

Notice the second thing, sacrificial love.

Greater love hath no man than this, then a man lay down his life for his friends.

The spirit of true friendship is always, always ready to do three.

Hey, I call it three Ds.

It's ready to do, dare, and die.

True friendship.

It's ready to do, dare, and die.

In other words, they're there through any circumstance, through any problem.

Your friends are there.

Jesus said in John 13, 1, I will love you to the end.

I love you to the end.

Folks, I want to be a part of a church like that that knows my faults, knows my weaknesses, and they still love me.

I'm not, let me go ahead and help you.

Your preacher's not perfect.

That would have been a good time to say amen.

You're thinking it, so amen.

But guess what?

None of you are either.

Hey, Clay and I were sitting out there talking about it.

You know, the best I am is filthy rags.

That's really encouraged.

All my righteousness is as filthy rags.

Isaiah 64, 6.

There's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God.

So we see it's a sacrificial love.

The spirit of true friendship is ready to do, dare, or die.

Now watch, for the highest good of another.

Woo! Man, I want some friends like that.

I've got a few.

I'm not gonna call them by name because you'll go try to steal my friends.

But but hey, hey, thank you.

And he is a friend.

See, now that's a friend.

Next time bring me something to eat, too.

Granny's my friend.

She had me a chocolate pie last week.

That's a friend.

Now listen, here it is.

It's so, this is so good.

Folks, it's so convicting, really.

But it's to do, dare, or die for the highest good of the other.

Listen to what Jesus said.

Here's what he said.

Hereby pursues in 1 John 3.16.

Hereby he taught the beloved John, and here's what the beloved John understood after the teaching of the upper room in John 13.

Hereby perceive we the love of God because he, Jesus, laid down his life for us.

We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Again, to do, to dare, and to die for the highest good.

The highest good of another person.

Man, that's so good.

Friendship is not a matter of sentiment or emotional infatuation, it is sacrificial practical sacrifice.

Can I say something?

It costs for me to love you.

Hello.

Come on, come on.

It costs for me to really love you.

It costs for me to really love Susan.

Except I got the highest benefit out of that.

It costs for her to love me.

It cost, hey, for you to love each other.

It costs.

It costs time.

It costs, hey, it your talents, and it costs your treasure.

It cost.

But that's it.

You're investing in the betterment of that person.

What does he say in Galatians 5.13?

By love, serve one another.

One of the greatest examples was Jonathan and David.

What a beautiful, beautiful example in 1 Samuel 18, verses 1 and 3.

1 Samuel 18:1

I wrote this to myself.

I said, How does this apply to me?

Love is impartial.

Real friendship and love is impartial.

He says in Deuteronomy 10, 19, love ye therefore the stranger.

Now, most of us would say a stranger is nothing more than an acquaintance.

Well, but if you understand the definition of the word, philosoph, that stranger in your heart is, hey, you want that, you want that to become a friendship so that you can help them and bless them and help them in any way you can.

You want to be a true friend to the stranger.

You know what's the greatest testimony?

And I'm in, I'm I'm usually in at least 15 to 20 personal contacts sitting down in the house, in the marketplace, at lunch, in the wall, talking one-on-one with people.

I will not, I will not think that I've had a good week until I've talked to at least 20 to 30 people about Jesus and about our church every week.

And that takes time.

But you know what?

What everyone tells me when they walk in and this week in in three different homes, every one of them said the same thing.

And a lot of people, what I love about this church, we are attracting people that have been out of church for years.

We're not going after other sheep.

I don't need other sheep.

Amen.

Amen.

We're not, hey, we're not sheep stealers.

Hello.

You say, why is that?

Well, sheep stink.

And guess what?

You don't need sheep of other people, other churches.

That's not what we have.

You know what we really want?

We want sheep that are wandering out there in the wilderness, and the Bible says they need to, hey, they need a shepherd to bring them home because they don't know how to get there.

Amen?

That's what we are.

And you know what they're telling me?

They're saying, look, we've we when we walked on the parking lot and came to the door, that's the most friendliest church.

It's the most lovingest church.

Before I got to even the sign-in table, three people to hug my necks and told me we loved them.

Well, we do, we do, we do, we do, we do.

It's real.

We do love you.

And we're not interested in your path.

We're interested in your future.

We're not judgmental here.

Amen.

We're not judgmental here.

Judge not that you be not judged, Jesus said.

Hello.

No, we all got rotten paths.

Hey, you don't have to try to stay.

Hey, hey, you said, preacher, you don't know my past.

Oh, yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

It's rotten.

Hello?

You okay?

It's rotten.

Steaks.

But guess what?

He's got a new future for you.

He's got a new plan for you.

He's got a new walk for you.

He's got a new attitude for you.

He's got a new life for you.

He's got a new job for you.

He's got a new everything when you're in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

You've got power then over that old stinking man.

When he rears his head up, you say, skip thee behind me, Satan.

He'll go back down.

But till you get saved, you don't have that power.

That old stinking man stays up here.

We want to get the saved man up here and the stinking man down here.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

Hey, it's impartial.

Hey, it's unselfish.

Love the neighbor as yourself.

Hey, it's proof of discipleship.

Hey, you shall know that Jesus said, A new commandment, I give it unto you, that you love one another as I love you, that you also love one another.

And by this shall all men know that you are my disciples by your love.

Your friendship.

John 13, 34 and 35.

And then, hey, hey, not only is it proof of discipleship, it's sincere.

Let love be without dissimilation, without disguise, without hypocrisy.

And then it's abounding.

1 Thessalonians 3:12.

1 Thessalonians 3:12

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men as we do toward you.

Woo! That's good.

I thought I was a pretty good friend until I started studying this message.

Number two.

That was the basis of Christian friendship.

Number two, the bond.

Look at the bond.

Look at verse 14.

You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.

Jesus here states that the bond which brings us together and cements true friendship is threefold.

Boy, this is really good.

Number one, Christian unity.

Ye are my friends.

It is important to remember that the master was addressing those eleven disciples.

He was not addressing Judas.

Judas had already left.

Remember?

But isn't it?

Let me tell you what kind of friend Jesus was, even to Judas, who was not his friend.

And the reason he wasn't a friend, you've got to be saved before you become a friend.

And Judas wasn't saved.

But you know where Judas was sitting at the Lord's Supper?

He was sitting on the right side.

John was on the left.

He was still trying to reach Judas.

That's a good reason to show to the free will of man.

He was still trying, but it was Judas' choice.

And then he turned to him and he said, What you do, go do quickly.

And he left.

And then he was addressing these loving disciples.

Oh.

And Jesus could, hey, Jesus couldn't say to Judas his friend, but he was to his disciples.

And here's what he said.

He said, The one thing you've got to be is unified.

You've got to have love for one another.

You've got to be real.

You've got to love each other like I love you.

And notice what Paul said in Ephesians 4.3.

Paul calls this oneness, the unity of the Spirit.

He says, read this with me, church.

Ephesians 4.3.

Read.

Endeavoring, throw Ephesians 4.3 up there, binge.

Ephesians 4.3.

Endeavoring to keep.

Read it with me.

Come on, church.

Endeavoring.

And then go to 1 Corinthians 6.17.

This is the verse I quote to our counsel every time we meet.

Read it with me, church.

One spirit.

Now, let me tell you what he's not talking about here.

He is not talking about uniformity.

In other words, robots or stuff.

There's a big difference between preferences and principles.

Can I get an amen?

What he's talking about is the principles of God's word.

Us being unified on, hey, clear biblical truth.

Can I get an amen?

But we all have our preferences.

Amen?

I meant we all have different preferences.

I've been married 34 wonderful years.

Is that correct?

Am I close?

I'm trying.

Almost.

November the 14th to be, see, I got that right.

November the 14th to be 34 years.

Wonderful years.

And here's the thing.

We, our preferences, they've gotten a little bit, well, no, they really hadn't.

They ain't gotten any better.

I mean, when we look at furniture, we are as opposite as everything.

I mean, we're just opposite in a lot of areas.

But now what we have done as we've grown older and grown wiser in the Lord and more mature in the Lord, we've learned not that it doesn't really matter.

Who cares whether it's a solid or flowery chair?

What you ought to care, bless God, I got a chair.

Hello.

You're not sitting on the floor.

You don't have to, well, it doesn't match.

I don't care.

I'm not, I got a chair.

Hello.

Everybody looking at each other, see, I knew, I talk.

Y'all just as bad as we are.

Amen.

So, but but listen, the the key here is understanding that those things really don't matter.

What matter is, and I think I have it, Benji, do I have Philippians 1.27?

I may not.

But is Philippians, yes I do.

Read, church.

No, let me read it.

I'm on preaching.

Only let your behavior, your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs.

In other words, the way you're uh what?

Uh infecting the community and influencing the community, that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

We've got one purpose, and that's to reach our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To stand on the word of God, on God's principles, not my preferences.

Is that not good?

And if you get upset over preferences, that shows spiritual immaturity.

And I'm guilty sometimes.

Hello?

Can we see can I get a no-me on that one?

Thank you.

Because you're guilty.

We all are.

We all are.

While it is true that the degree of friendship may vary within the Christian church, the fact still remains that all who are united in one spirit are friends of Jesus and therefore they are friends one to another.

Isn't that good?

Oh, that's so good.

The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Number two, Christian loyalty.

Whew, this is a good one.

First is Christianity, Christian loyalty.

Christian loyalty means that every time you get your feelings hurt, you're not gonna take your ball and go home.

Hello, you okay out there?

Well, you ought not to hurt my feelings.

Well, you ought not to hurt mine.

You hurt my feelings then?

You hurt my feelings when you don't come to church.

It hurts my feelings.

I think you don't like me.

No.

I love you.

I use that as an example.

Don't we get our feelings hurt quite easily?

Let me ask something.

Ever been at a ball game?

Thank you, Lord.

That's a good illustration.

You ever been at a ball game?

Were you at a ball game yesterday?

Some of you were.

I was there.

Alright, let me ask something.

You ever had somebody offend you at the ball game?

Or maybe not offend you personally, but did something that offended you?

Nobody thank you.

Come on, this is a participation worship service.

Thank you.

You with me?

I meant those people cussing in front of me the last ball game I was at offended me.

Hello?

Now let me ask something.

Did you just decide, well, bless God, I'm gonna leave here and I ain't coming back.

No, next week you were right back there because you purchased seasoned tickets and you're gonna get your money's worth.

So you purchase seasoned tickets to be offended.

Just a thought.

That's why Phil and I decided we're gonna stay home watching on TV.

Isn't it amazing?

We grind and complain about the traffic and all this, people smoking in my front, all this and blah, blah, blah, blah.

But we keep going back every week.

If we could have that same tenacity with church, I'd be excited.

Hey, you can get mad at me all the time if you just keep coming.

Hello, you okay out there?

I'm giving you a good illustration.

No, I don't like what the preacher said.

I'm not going back to that church.

I know.

I understand.

Where's your Christian loyalty?

If we had the same Christian loyalty to our churches and to the Christ, our Savior, as we do to some of our sports, me included, well, we'd have a dynamic church, wouldn't we?

We do, by the way.

Come on, let's get ahead.

We do, we do.

We really do.

We got some radically sold-out people, and we need more.

We need more.

Christian loyalty, real quick.

Woo! Man, this is so good.

Loyalty in three areas faithfulness and all confidences.

You need a friend or friends, and I you won't have many of them, that you can tell them anything.

Come on, say amen.

You can tell them anything.

You need that.

You say, no, I don't.

Yes, you do.

No, I don't.

Yes, you do.

Because if you keep it inside, you're gonna bust.

You're gonna explode.

You're gonna have a nervous breakdown.

Bless God.

Hey, you don't have to pay a lot of money to a Christian counselor if you got some good friends that love you and love Christ.

They'll be the best counselors you could ever have.

You know what?

I I I I've never paid for a counselor, but some of my close friends have.

And I ask them, what'd they say?

You know what they told me?

They say nothing.

I said, What do you do?

I just sit there and talk for an hour.

I said, they don't tell you anything.

No, no.

So you pay them$100 to talk for an hour.

You can pay me$50 and talk for an hour.

Hello.

And when you get through, I've got some verses.

I'll be writing versus you'll see me writing, I have some verses for you.

Go memorize.

And I guarantee you, you should know the truth.

I'm about to have a spell.

You should know the truth, and the truth should set you free.

It's the word of God.

It's the word of God.

That's why when you go to Christian counselors, they better be giving you the word, the word, the word.

Amen.

Christian loyalty.

Listen to what the psalmist said in Psalms 25, 14.

The psalmist tells us that the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.

Listen to what he said about Abraham.

He said, and Abraham was called the friend of God.

James 2 23.

And God asked himself, Shall I hide from Abraham the things which I do?

And then concerning Moses.

The Bible informs us that the Lord's speaking to Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend.

A friend that speaks the truth confidentially and lovingly, face to face.

There's no better friend than that.

That's one way.

Thank you, Paul.

Great commercial.

I said, you're right.

Hell about boy, that was good.

Faithfulness.

Hey, faithfulness and confidence.

Ready?

Here's the second thing.

I know this ain't any notes, but God gives it to me.

I can't help it.

Faithfulness in criticisms.

Now, this one we don't like.

I don't like it when my wife criticizes me.

She doesn't criticize me.

She tells me every time she corrects me, she doesn't criticize me.

I knew you'd like that, sis.

Oh, it's the first time you smiled.

You like that one, didn't you?

When sis ensues, when I take them to eat, they gain up on me.

I've just gotten to the point now, I don't say a word, I just paid the ticket.

Criticism.

Listen to what he says in Proverbs 17, 17.

A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity.

Amen.

Meaning that, hey, here it is.

Meaning that in prosperity or adversity, friendship knows no change.

I know he's one of the humblest men I know, but feel back there.

Stuck with me, and sis stuck with me.

When I was the president of Tennessee Temple, when everybody else was ready to crucify me.

And I'll never forget what you said, Phil.

You said, I don't care what anybody says, I'm your friend.

And sis is my sister, whether she likes it or not.

Not really, I've adopted her.

I don't know she's adopted me, but I've adopted her.

David Wilson is a friend.

And when everybody else walked out on me, he was there for me.

I'm telling you, folks, you need those friends.

And that's why you're not gonna say one word about Phil Smith or David Wilson in front of me, or you're gonna have to whoop me.

You're not gonna do that.

Yeah, but no, I don't need any butts.

We all have our problems, but you need some friends like that.

Can I get an amen?

You need some friends like that, folks.

You need some friends like that.

Thank you, Jesus, for friends.

Faithfulness in criticisms, faithfulness in confidences, and number three, faithfulness in circumstances.

Proverbs 17, 17.

That's it.

Those three.

And then number three, Christian sympathy.

Let me tell you what that means.

You weep with those that weep, and you rejoice with those that rejoice.

Amen.

Amen.

That's why you need your church family.

There's not one of us here that's not gonna go through tragedies.

Burdens, yes, burdens, tragedies.

There's gonna be low times, there's gonna be times that hey, we we need somebody to come alongside us and pick us up.

Can I get an amen?

Two years ago, I was supposed to die this time.

But Rose, let me tell you what Rose Marie had.

She had a lot of friends around her that were sticking right there with her, praying.

Not knowing.

We didn't know.

And I didn't know what to say.

Except, hey, God knows.

If God wants I will to live, he's gonna live.

If God wants I will to come be with him, he's going to be with him.

And as much as we, and I remember I told you this, as much as we don't want him to go, we love him, we want him here.

I said, if God wants him, hey, he outrules us.

You don't look at a person that loves the Lord dying as a bad thing.

Major gain.

To be after from the body to be present with the Lord.

Niva, I want you to find I wish you were here by the Kingsman.

I want us, I want, I want somebody to sing that song.

I wish you were here.

Now, the new version of heaven is I can only imagine.

Benji does an awesome job.

You need to sing that soon, too, Benji.

But I want the Kingsman version, and I wish you were here.

Walking down the streets of gold.

I'm telling you, folks, heaven is a place we don't regret going to.

That's our blessed hope.

Titus 1, 2.

Can I get an amen?

Lazarus wept with Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus.

But hey, he rejoiced with them and comforted them and had a great time with them when they were reunited as a family at Bethany.

And then the last thing.

Whew, man, this is good.

God's word's so good about friends.

The basis of Christian friendship, the bond for Christian friendship, Christian unity, Christian loyalty, Christian sympathy.

The basis of Christian friendship, spiritual love, sacrificial love.

Now let's close with the benefits of Christian friendship.

Look at verse 15.

Henceforth I call you not servants.

Mm-mm-mm.

Henceforth, I call you not servants.

For the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends.

For all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.

Number one, here's the benefits of Christian friendship.

It's morally elevating.

It's morally elevating.

In other words, you have something in common and you build each other up.

Amen.

You build each other up.

You don't talk about the negative things, you talk about positive things.

Now, hey, one-on-one in that quiet time, the criticisms and whatever else is, yes.

In fact, let me tell you something about, I read an illustration.

I can't remember I read so many, but here's what they said.

You know what a true friend is in the criticism part?

They said you take chaff and wheat and put it together, you know, and you shake it together.

Well, you have the chaff and wheat together.

And he says, a true friend takes kindly loving hands and sifts it apart and leaves a shaft there and elevates the wheat.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

And by the way, forgiveness is for hey, forgiveness is forgetfulness.

Once you deal with it, a true friend never brings it back up.

Hello?

They never bring it back up.

They never bring it back up.

And then not only that, and in fact, here's what I wrote.

But the transforming power of Christ's friendship was such, now watch this, he changed the eleven men from sinful nobodies to saintly somebodies.

He changed them from sinful nobodies to saintly somebodies.

What a powerful, powerful, powerful truth.

And then the last thing.

It's mentally educating, mentally challenging, mentally educating.

Jesus said, look at verse 15.

I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.

You know what that means?

Let me tell you what that means.

That means that you, if you have a close friend, you're talking about the things of God and Scripture, sharing your heart, sharing what God's doing in your life, sharing what God's showing you so it can mentally and spiritually elevate your friends.

Is that not good?

Is that not good, folks?

Amen.

Is that not good?

I want to close with this illustration.

And boy, what an illustration.

We've seen here the highest order of friendship is to be found in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Nothing better, nothing higher.

His behavior to all those who follow him is the standard that we should all follow.

Now watch what Jesus did.

Jesus wants us to imitate him.

Here's what he did.

One night in John chapter 13, he gathered with some of his friends, and there was a job to be done.

John 13 · chapter mention

No one would do it.

So he did it.

There was a kindness to be shown.

No one would show it.

So he showed it.

There was a humility.

No one would practice it.

So he practiced it.

There was a forgiveness.

No one would offer it.

So he offered himself.

Someone had to be emptied.

No one would be emptied.

So he emptied himself.

When he finished, he said, Now you do as I have done to you.

This kind of living finally killed him.

Wow.

He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

And the chastisement of our peace was upon him.

And with his stripes we are healed.

What a friend we have in Jesus.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.