That's all the help, by the way.
I feel like you're trying to sing on an octave that's not natural for you.
I feel like you need to go higher.
I don't know if there's anybody else in here.
Musicians are kind of hard because they're really hard.
To me, it sounds like I feel like your natural range is probably higher.
I mean, not like Mariah Carey.
An octave or two.
Not leading, but leading.
One, two, three, four.
We'll begin tonight's service by singing the song number 351.
The song number 351, Tell it to Jesus.
The song number 351.
You'll hear me heart every morning.
Tell it to Jesus.
Morning, evening, evening, morning.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus.
He is the friend that's the Lord.
You know of her soul.
You know of her.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Through the tears, look at her.
She's the witness.
Tell it to Jesus.
At his face, let her witness.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus.
He is the friend that's the Lord.
You are such a friend of the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Do you know of her sorrow?
Tell it to Jesus.
You are such a friend of the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
He is the friend that's the Lord.
You know of her soul.
You are such a friend of the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Are you troubled at all times?
Tell it to Jesus.
For Christ the King, the light is shining.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus.
He is the friend that's the Lord.
You know of her such a friend of the Lord.
Tell it to Jesus the Lord.
Okay, next we'll start this evening.
We'll go ahead and open up the service in a word of prayer.
So I'll ask Brother Albert to please pray for us.
Father God, thank you for this evening's service.
Please bless this evening's service tonight,
everyone who is here.
And we thank you in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
Fr. Trinity, hymnal is the song number 96.
The next song we'll be singing is the song number 96.
It's called Jesus is Long.
Song number 96.
The next song we'll be singing is Jesus is Long.
All right, if you'd like a bulletin, just go ahead and slip up your hand.
Brother Adam will bring you one.
As always, the service times are in there on the upper left-hand side.
We'll be back this Sunday at 10 30 a.m., again at 5 30 p.m.
Tonight we are continuing on in the book of Acts, getting ready to close it out.
We're going to be going through Acts chapter number 27 tonight.
Of course, over on the right-hand side, we had the happy birthday doughnuts this last Sunday.
And the big news is the farewell party coming up in honor of the Elliott's here.
That's going to be a week from this.
Is that right? That date, right?
That is right, yep, okay.
So Sunday, December 17th, that's a week from this Sunday.
Right after the morning service, we'll have catering from Juanitos.
We'll just have some carne asada, the rice, the beans, and the tortillas.
But if anyone wants to bring any kind of a side or anything like that, feel free to do that.
Certainly not expected, but you know how we are around here.
But anyway, we're just going to wish them well and a fond farewell to them.
On the back, also don't forget the Christmas caroling coming up on Tuesday up in Tempe.
That's going to be on the 19th at 5 30.
I don't know if anyone's planning on going up for this.
I unfortunately won't be able to make it up this year.
I've always enjoyed going to this.
It's a really great time to go out caroling.
You don't sing a solo.
Basically, if anyone here decides to go, they do a real good job of putting you into a bigger group.
So you don't have to worry about standing out.
You'll blend right in with everybody else.
People are very receptive about this.
I remember the first time I went, I thought, do people actually enjoy this?
Like the strangers singing at the doorstep?
People love this stuff.
It's a huge blessing.
It's a good time of fellowship, too.
So if you're able to make it up there, it's a great time up there.
But also below that, we're not going to be having the candlelight service this year.
But we're going to be having just our regular service times.
Nothing's going to change that Sunday.
So hopefully everybody comes out on Christmas Eve to church since that's the reason for the season is Christ.
I can't think of a better place to be on Christmas Eve than in church.
But we'll have cookies and cocoa after the evening service.
And if you're not here, we're not just going to assume that you're sitting on Santa's lap somewhere in some mall.
I understand people have families and schedules and all that.
But we are offering the cookies and cocoa.
And hopefully everybody can make it out.
And then just a quick note there about the recliners.
And that's going to do it for announcements.
We'll just quickly count up the soul winning going back to Monday if anybody has any report for Monday or Tuesday.
One on Tuesday.
Anything from Wednesday.
And I don't know if there's anything from today either.
So all right.
All right.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the pre-season.
All right.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight.
All right.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight.
If you guys can sing at this time we'll pass the offering plate.
And you can turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 27.
We read out of Acts chapter 27.
Verse 1 the Bible reads,
And when it was determined that we should sail to Italy to deliver Paul and certain other prisoners,
one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' bed,
and entering into a ship, a legitimate one, to be launched,
meaning to sail by the coast of Asia,
one Aristarchus, Macedonia, Thessalonica, being with us.
And the next day, when he touched a sire,
Julius, courtesy of treated Paul,
he gave him liberty to go into his friends to refresh himself.
And we had launched an event in sailing under cypress,
because the winds were contrary,
and we had sailed over the Sea of Samsilla,
to Ophelia, he came to Myra, a city of Lycia,
and there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, sailing into Italy,
and he put us therein.
And we had sailed slowly many days,
and scarce, for come over against night,
the wind was not suffering,
thus we sailed in a creek, over against Samo.
And holy passing came unto a place which is called the Farahabres,
and I were unto with the city of Lycia.
Now when much time was spent, and sailing was now dangerous,
because the fast was now a ringed pass,
Paul admonished and said unto them,
Sir, receive of this voyage will be of much hurt, much damage,
not only of the landing of the ship, but also of our lives.
Nevertheless, the centurion,
believe the master and the owner of the ship,
were in those things which were spoken by Paul.
And because the haven was not commodious to winter then,
the more part advised to the part thence also,
if by any means it might attain to Venice,
and there to winter, which is the haven of the creek,
and lie toward the southwest and northwest,
and when the south wind blew softly, supposedly they had bitten,
and obtained their purpose, losing fence,
they sailed coast by creek,
and not long after there arose against them a tempestuous wind,
called Euoclyda,
and when the ship was caught, could not bear up into the wind,
we let her drive,
and running under a certain island, which is called Clado,
we had much work to come by the boat,
which when they had taken up, we used helps, undergirding the ship,
and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksand,
or strike sail, so we're driven.
When we being seemingly tossed from the tempest,
the next day they lightened the ship,
and the third day we cast out with our own hands,
the tackling of the ship,
and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared,
and no small tempest lay on us,
all hope that we had, that we should be saved, was then taken away,
and long after abstinence, Paul stood forth from the midst of them,
and said, Sir, you should have hearkened unto me,
and not have loosed from the creek,
to have gained this harm of loss,
and now, I exhort you, it will be of good cheer,
there shall be no loss of any man's life among you,
but of the ship, that is stood by me this night,
the angel of God, whose I am at, and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul, I must be brought before Caesar,
and lo, God hath given thee all men that sail with thee,
wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer,
for I believe God, there should be even as it was told me,
howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island,
when the fourteenth night is come,
we are driven up and down a drear,
about midnight a shipment,
deemed that they drew near to some country,
and sounded, and found it twenty fathoms,
and when they had gone a little further,
they sounded again, and found it fifty fathoms,
then fearing less, we should have fallen upon rocks,
that cast four anchors out of the stern,
and wished for the day,
and as a shipment were about to flee out of the ship,
when they are led down in a boat to the sea,
under color, as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
Paul said to the centurion, which were soldiers,
accept these abiding ships, they cannot be saved,
then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat,
and let it fall off, and while the day was coming on,
Paul decided for them all to take meat,
saying, this day is the fourteenth day,
we have terror, and continue faster,
and be taken no think, wherefore I pray you,
to take some meat, for this is for your health,
there shall not inherit or fall from the head of any of you,
and when he had spoken thus, he took bread,
being thanks to God, and the presence of them all,
and when he had broken, he began to eat,
then were they of good cheer, and they also took meat,
when we were in all the ship, two hundred threes, four and sixteen souls,
and when they had eaten enough, they lined the ship,
and cast out the wheat into the sea,
and when it was day, they knew not the land,
and they discovered a certain creek, or the shore,
into which they reminded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship,
and when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves into the sea,
and loosed the rudder, bands, and hoised up the manseil to the wind,
and made toward shore, and falling into a place where two seas met,
they ran the ship aground, and the fore part struck fast,
and remained unmovable, but the hander part was broken,
with a void of violence in the waves,
and a soldier's council mustn't kill the prisoners,
unless any of them should swim out and escape,
but some cheering, willing to save Paul, kept them from the purpose,
the commandment they who wished to swim,
should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land,
and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship,
and so it came to pass that they escaped, all safe and land.
Let Adam pray for us.
Amen.
So we're wrapping up, of course, the book of Acts,
not tonight, but probably next week, Lord willing.
So I don't want to try and review everything we've covered thus far,
because that's quite a bit in the book of Acts,
but we've been following Paul for some time now,
and if you remember last week, or the last time we were in here,
he's appealed unto Caesar.
He had that whole dialogue with King Agrippa and Burnissi,
and then they saw him.
If you remember, they decided that he would set fit to even be let go,
if he had not appealed unto Caesar.
So that's what's taking place here in this chapter.
This is Paul on his way to Italy, to Rome,
to go and stand before Caesar in his judgment seat,
and it says there in verse one,
and it was determined that we should sail into Italy.
They delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius,
a centurion of Augustus's band,
and entering into a ship of Arimitum,
we launched, meaning to sail by the coast of Asia,
one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us,
and the next day we touched at Sidon,
and Julius courteously entreated Paul and gave him liberty
to go unto his friends to refresh himself,
and really that's what jumped out of me
when I was reading this chapter and preparing this sermon is that
Paul here in verse three is being courteously entreated by Julius,
the centurion that's keeping guard over him on his journey,
and what he's doing is he's allowing to go and visit his friends
that he had there,
and that's kind of what I want to preach about tonight
is the topic of friendship and the need to have friends in our lives
and what it means more specifically to be a friend.
Because today obviously there's a lot of different ideas
about what it means to be a friend.
If people just have similar interests and they hang out,
sometimes they'll just say, well, that person's my friend,
but what does the Bible say?
What does the Bible tell us what it means to be a friend?
What is the biblical definition of friendship?
Because that's how we want to conduct ourselves is according to the scripture,
and actually this is kind of an interesting chapter
because you see Paul, one, here refreshing himself with the friends
that he had previously made,
but also I believe being an example of what it means to be a friend in this story.
It's a very harrowing tale, right?
All the sailing and everything that happens in the story and where it leads,
but we see Paul, I believe, behaving as a friend would on this journey, okay?
In fact, I try to come up with a clever title about the friendship
because he's in a ship, right?
The SS friendship or something like that.
Paul upon the sea in the ship of friendship.
I don't know.
We just went with Acts 27.
No one will listen to it anyway.
But you're here tonight, right?
My friends, okay?
And that's who I'm preaching to.
But what I want to point out first of all is the need for friends, right?
Notice that Paul, when he's given liberty,
he goes on to his friends to refresh himself, okay?
This is the apostle Paul.
Obviously, the apostle Paul is very close to the Lord.
The Lord has, we've seen in so many chapters previous,
the Lord is communicating directly with Paul.
He has a lot of other associates,
a lot of other people that he has been friends with,
and he has a very deep walk with the Lord.
He has a very real spirituality,
and yet he still himself, this great man of God,
the apostle Paul has to refresh himself with his friends.
That should communicate to all of us that friendship is important in our lives.
We don't want to just pretend that we have our families,
or we have our spouses, and that's it.
That's all we need.
Or we're just loners.
We don't have a need for friends.
Man is a social being.
We were created to have fellowship one with another,
to have fellowship with God.
It's important for us as human beings to have social interaction,
to have deep, meaningful relationships,
even outside of the family in the form of friendships.
Friendships are important.
There's a lot of benefits that we get from friendships.
Paul here is refreshing himself by means of a friendship.
And it also shows us that Paul knew what it meant to be a friend,
because remember, he's been away for many years,
and he's on his journey.
He's just going through this region.
He's going this great, long journey through this area,
and it's just wherever they stop, friends got people there.
Well, I'm in town. Let me go see my friends.
Why is that?
Because in Paul's life, he has learned what it means to be a friend,
how to make friends, how to show himself friendly.
The first point I want to make, though, is that we need friends.
We need that refreshing, we need that encouragement from our friends.
The Bible says in Proverbs, and if you would, go to Proverbs 27.
I'm going to read to you from verse 17 in Proverbs 27.
There's actually quite a bit in Proverbs tonight,
if you just want to bookmark something there.
But it says in Proverbs 27, 17,
Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Iron sharpens iron.
It takes something abrasive to make something sharp.
It takes similar alloys, takes similar elements to sharpen another one.
We need to have friends in our lives.
We need to have people that we can relate to, people that are like us,
so that we can sharpen one another.
That's part of that refreshing.
Maybe Paul, at this point in his life, is a little dull.
He's a little down.
He's not as sharp as he once was.
He's been sitting in jail.
He's been defending himself publicly.
Yes, he's had his acquaintances coming and going,
but now he's going to Rome and he's been taking on his journey.
He's got maybe a few companions with him.
The Bible says that he went to refresh himself.
It appears to me that he needed this.
This is something that he needed.
Who did he go to when he needed to be refreshed?
He went to his friends.
What happened?
That iron sharpened iron.
That's why it's important that we get together with God's people
because only iron is going to sharpen iron.
This world is not going to sharpen you as a Christian.
What you see out there in the world, in the media, whatever,
even your friends in this world, if they're unsaved,
they're not going to be able to sharpen you after Christ.
It's iron that sharpens iron.
Paul couldn't just hang out with the crew on the boat
and get that sharpening, that refreshing that he needed.
He couldn't get it from Julius, as polite as he might have been,
that centurion.
He had to go and find God's people to refresh himself
because it's iron that sharpens iron.
We need to get with God's people.
That's why it's important to be in church.
That's why it's important to participate in the program at church.
The soul winning is obviously the main thrust of this ministry.
That's what we do here.
Obviously the motivation behind that is to go out and preach the gospel
and save souls.
But another benefit that comes with soul winning
is this sharpening that takes place.
People go out together, they get to know one another.
Friendships are formed out here preaching the gospel between soul winners.
People go out and they're both endeavoring to accomplish the same goal,
the same task together.
That's going to bring them closer, bring them together.
They're going to get to know one another.
They're going to refresh one another.
There's going to be a sharpening that takes place there.
But notice also the sharpening, that's a lot of friction involved
when you sharpen something.
That's not always a pleasant process, is it?
If you've got some big burr on your life
and you drag it across the sharpening stone,
what's it doing?
It's cutting that off.
It's grinding that out.
That's an abrasive kind of relationship at times, can't it?
And I'll get into it this evening, but that's kind of what a real friendship does.
I'm not saying all the time.
But your friends should be people that can come to you
and be maybe a little abrasive at times,
tell you what you need to hear to sharpen you,
not to beat you up or make you feel bad,
but that's what a real friend does.
A friend doesn't just let you stay dull.
They want to sharpen you up.
They want to make sure that you're effective,
that you're not dull,
that you have some utility.
Now Paul in this story obviously had many friends.
We've seen that throughout the book of Acts.
I won't take the time to go over it all,
but Paul has been ministering, preaching, starting churches,
appointing, going back, visiting again.
Paul has a lot of people.
He could go anywhere,
and there would be people that would receive him with open arms
and support him and refresh him.
And he had many friends.
We see that in Acts 19.
When people are coming,
it says that such which were his friends were sent on to him.
Acts 24, when he was first put into jail there,
he was not forbid that any of his acquaintance
to minister or come on to him.
So anywhere he goes,
he's got people that are willing to step up and help Paul
to sharpen that iron, to refresh him.
And what I find interesting about this
from a leader or a preacher's perspective,
such as Paul was,
is that this is in spite of being a preacher,
in spite of being the apostle Paul.
Because as a preacher,
as somebody who preaches the word of God
and is a leader in the ministry,
you have to preach a lot of negative things.
You have to say hard things,
if you're doing your job right.
I get it.
There's a lot of people out there,
a lot of preachers that aren't going to do that.
They're just going to tickle the ear and scratch the back
and just tell you what you want to hear, right?
And be your friend, okay?
Because they never say anything hard or mean
or anything like that, okay?
But Paul told Timothy to reprove, to rebuke,
and to exhort with all long-suffering doctrine.
Those are negative elements, okay?
What I find interesting is that Paul has all of these friends
in spite of being that kind of a preacher.
I mean, Paul is one who withstood Peter to the face.
Paul, we see rebuking and reproving himself
and exhorting with all long-suffering doctrine.
He preached hard.
I don't believe the apostle Paul was some, you know,
soft soap sermon preacher, right?
He was a man's man.
He said what needed to be said.
He preached hard sermons, okay?
What that tells me is that a friend is somebody
that will tell you what you need to hear.
And sometimes what you need to hear is a warning, right?
Sometimes we as friends have to warn our friends.
If I really cared about you, I would warn you.
If I saw you getting into a situation
or if there was some kind of danger
or you're making an unwise decision, you know,
as a friend I would come to you and lovingly
and kindly try to get you to see what's going on, right?
And that's what you see take place in the story, okay?
So I'm just going to use this ship
to kind of illustrate friendship, okay?
We're going to put the ship in friendship tonight.
I'm really grasping.
I'm really trying hard.
It kind of dawned on me after I wrote the sermon
that that was a perfect match there.
It's probably better that I figured that out afterwards
because I would have really struggled to make something.
All right, anyway.
Look there at verse four.
You know, a friend will warn you, right?
It says, and when we had launched from thence
and we sailed under Cyprus because the winds were contrary.
And so already, you know, the sailing's tough.
You know, it's not smooth sailing.
In fact, none of this is smooth sailing.
From here on out, it's just one long arduous journey.
And when we sailed over the Sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia,
we came to Myra, the city of Lycia.
And there, the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing
into Italy, and he put us therein.
So they switched ships.
And when he had sailed slowly, many days, slowly,
that's not good when you're traveling.
You want to go as fast as possible.
And scarce were come over unto Knitis,
the wind not suffering us, we sailed onto Crete
over against Salmone.
And hardly passing it came unto a place
which is called the Fair Havens.
Nigh whereunto was the city of Lycia.
Now when much time was spent and when sailing was now dangerous,
right, so verse four, the winds are contrary.
By tying it to verse eight, you know, or verse nine, rather,
it says that much time has been spent, right?
Are we there yet?
You know, everyone's saying it.
And now the sailing is dangerous.
Because the fast was now already passed.
So some fast that he's referring to tried
to give us a time frame of what time of year
this might have been.
Maybe that's why the sailing was so hard,
because of the weather that particular time of year.
I really don't know.
But at this point in the journey,
when things are getting dangerous,
when things are getting difficult,
Paul admonished them, right?
When the sailing was now dangerous,
Paul admonished them, right?
This is how Paul managed to make friends.
Okay, and you'll see this at the end of the story.
He makes a friend.
He makes a friend out of this journey, right?
Because a friend isn't somebody
who just tells you whatever you want to hear.
A friend isn't somebody who just lets you
go headlong into danger and say,
well, figure it out yourself, right?
A friend, if things get dangerous,
admonishes you and warns you.
It says, danger, look out, okay?
That's what Paul does.
When the way sailing gets dangerous,
he admonishes them and said to them,
sirs, I perceive that this voyage
will be with much hurt and much damage,
not only of the landing of the ship,
but also of our lives.
So he's saying, this is gonna be
at the cost of our lives.
This is gonna cost you money,
the landing of the ship,
and it might even cost our lives.
Now again, this is something that Paul saw.
This wasn't something that was told to him.
This is just him being able to look at the situation
and step back and say, hey,
this is gonna be a dangerous trip, right?
Because he said, I perceive, right?
This is what a friend can do for you.
This is why it's important to have friends.
Because a friend is somebody who can look at a situation
and see things for what they are.
Maybe a little more clearly than we can, right?
I know I had you go to Proverbs chapter 27,
but go to Proverbs 18.
I didn't even read the verse over there,
but go to Proverbs chapter number 18.
Just move along in the story here.
So Paul, when the sailing gets dangerous,
warns these guys and he warns them
about what he was able to see.
He says, I perceive that the voyage will be with hurt
and much damage, but also of our lives.
Excuse me.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18 verse 17,
he that is first in his own cause, seemeth just,
but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him, right?
His neighbor, his friend, another person, a third party,
is able to come and search out his cause.
He that is first in his own cause, seemeth just.
Everything seems right.
It seems like I have, I got a beat on this thing.
Somebody else can come along
who's a little bit more removed from the situation
and say, actually, here's what's going on.
Let me point some things out.
You know, this illustration came to mind
when I remember I have a very vivid memory of my dad
coming into the house and saying,
where are my sunglasses?
Where are my sunglasses?
And he's got to go and he's looking for his sunglasses.
He said, Dad, they're on top of your head, right?
That's kind of how it is in life sometimes.
We can't see things because the sunglasses
aren't on top of our head.
We just, you know, we're too close to the situation, right?
Being too close narrows your point of view
is what I'm trying to get at, okay?
Sometimes when we're deeply involved
and we're too close to a situation,
you know, our peripheral is cut off.
We're just focused on this one little thing.
Somebody else has to come from the outside and go,
whoa, look what's going on, right?
And point out whatever it might be, okay?
Maybe it's our behaviors, maybe it's things we're doing,
maybe it's a situation we're getting ourselves into.
Whatever it is, you know, sometimes we get too close
to things, we need a neighbor to come and search us out.
That is what a friend does.
A friend will come to you and say,
hey, I don't know if you've noticed,
or let me point this out, or let me help you
just have a little bit of a different perspective, okay?
Because the sailors here, they're just like,
let's go drop off this load, make some money,
let's get home.
They're just motivated by their own self-interest, right?
They've got a job to do.
Paul, he's, well, I'm just on the way to go see
Cesar Augustus, you know, I might get killed.
You know, he's not really, you know,
he doesn't know what's gonna happen.
He's kind of a disinterested third party.
He's like, hey, take your time, right?
There's no rush to get to Cesar Augustus here.
Let's slow the roll a little bit.
You know, he's not the one in the bottom of the ship
going, are we there yet?
You know, he's fine, but the point is this,
is he's kind of that neighbor that can search this out
because, what, he's able to step back from the situation
and see it from a different perspective.
He's able to say, hey, sunglasses are on your head, dummy.
Right, but this is what a friend does.
They perceive things, but they don't keep it to themselves.
You know, they express those concerns
to those who might not be able to see.
Also in the story, you see that friends are patient, right?
Because Paul says, hey, this is gonna be a dangerous trip
in verse 10.
But then in verse 11, nevertheless,
the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship
more than those things which were spoken of Paul.
And, you know, and obviously humanly speaking,
who can blame him?
I mean, who's Paul to the centurion?
You know, just some, you know, religious zealot,
just some Jew who got all worked up
about this sect of the Nazarene, right?
He's just another ward that's under his care.
He's just another prisoner.
He's just another part of his job, right?
Who is the centurion gonna trust?
Probably when it comes to sailing,
when it comes to weather,
the guy who's made this route a few times.
Of course, you know, he can't really blame him
for believing the owner of the ship
because it would just seem natural like,
well, this is the guy that knows what he's talking about.
But again, the owner of the ship,
he's more, he's not concerned about anything
other than getting paid, right?
But friends are patient, right?
When a friend will give advice,
when a friend will be able to step back and see things
and kindly warn people or point something out,
you know, they are prepared
to not have that advice listened to, right?
And they know not to insist, okay?
This is something I'm familiar with.
You know, as someone who preaches the word of God
and tries to help people a lot,
you have to be prepared for people to just,
in spite of what you say,
just doing whatever they want anyway, okay?
But friends are patient in those instances.
They don't just go,
well, if you're not gonna listen to me
and take every word of advice that I give,
then I don't even see what the point is of being friends, right?
A real friend will give advice
and even if it's not heeded,
will continue to be your friend.
Because the only reason they're telling you to begin with
is because they care about you,
not because they just wanna be right, okay?
Nevertheless, the centurion did not hear.
Verse 12, and it says,
and because the haven was not commodious to winter in,
the more poor advised to depart thence,
also if by any means they might attend to Venice,
and there to winter,
which is in haven of Crete
and lieth toward the south, west, and northwest.
And when the south wind blew softly,
supposing that they had obtained their purpose,
loosing thence, they sailed by Crete.
So it's like, look at Paul,
this is what he's talking about,
the wind's blowing softly now, right?
But Paul is saying,
no, I know something you don't.
I've got perspective you don't have.
But they didn't listen.
And Paul's not wringing his hands
or trying to, he's not grabbing the centurion,
you gotta listen to me.
When his advice wasn't heeded,
he just patiently waited.
He was patient.
This is what a friend will do with somebody, okay?
They'll be patient with them.
Verse 14, but not long after,
there arose against it a tempestuous wind
called Urocliden, okay?
Now when you have a tempestuous wind
that has its own name,
you know, isn't that what we do today,
the hurricanes, right?
You know, that's a storm.
We don't name every storm, right?
But this one had a name.
And when the ship was caught
and could not bear up into the wind,
we let her drive,
meaning they're just like,
we're going wherever the wind wants now.
Now maybe people are going,
maybe Paul knows what he's talking about here, right?
And running under a certain island,
which is called Claddagh,
we had much work to come by the boat,
so they had to stop, make repairs.
When they had taken up,
they used helps undergirding the ship,
fearing lest they should fall into the quicksand,
strike sail, and so were driven.
Here's the thing,
if you're going to be a friend to somebody,
okay, and even when you have perspective,
and you can see things that they can't see,
and even after you tell them,
and you point things out,
if they don't heed that advice,
you just need to be patient with that person
and let life do the instructing, right?
Because eventually they'll figure it out, right?
Parents know what I'm talking about here, right?
Parents will say,
son, daughter, you do this, this is what's going to happen.
Oh no, it won't, dad.
Okay, I always tell that story about me
starting the brush fire with a five gallon gallon of gas,
right, and just hearing those words
that will forever echo in my still ringing ears,
the boy's gotta learn, right?
That's how life goes sometimes.
Sometimes the boy's gotta learn on his own,
and after you singe your eyelashes
and you can smell your own nose hair on fire,
you learn, you go, hey,
here's how you actually start a brush fire,
here's how you burn up brush, you do it slowly.
Anyway, I've already told that story.
But it's a great humorous example
of what I'm talking about here.
Paul says, hey, this is going to come by much harm,
even of our own lives,
and they didn't hear,
he's like, okay.
And now when they're undergirding the ship
and they're striking sail
and they're going through your rocklet and all this stuff,
they're trying to get out of the quicksands,
now he's going,
he doesn't say it, we're all thinking it,
I told you so, right?
I told you so.
We love to say those words, right?
Go to Proverbs 14.
Proverbs 14.
Actually, you know what?
Just stay in Proverbs, we'll come back,
but go to 2 Peter chapter number one,
2 Peter chapter number one.
Sometimes a friend will just let
the life do the instructing, right?
Because, again, a friend is just warning you
because they care about you.
And at the very least, if their advice,
if their warning isn't heeded,
if the advice isn't taken,
if the criticism isn't received,
at least a friend can say, well, I did my part.
At least I tried.
At least I tried to warn them.
At least I tried to point some things out.
And sometimes people just have to learn the hard way.
That's just the way life is.
I'm sure none of us is like that, right?
I know I am.
Okay, I've already outed myself
by telling that story about the gas.
But, you know, nothing's changed.
Sometimes I still have to learn things the hard way.
But here's the thing.
Here's the thing about letting life do the instructing
is it requires you to be patient, right?
That's what a friend is.
A friend is patient.
And to be a patient person,
you have to be a spiritual person.
True patience is something that comes
as the fruit of the Spirit, right?
Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance.
Longsuffering, which is just another term for patience.
That's what it means to be patient.
It's to be longsuffering, to suffer long with somebody,
to put up with them for a long time is patience.
Look at 2 Peter 1, verse 5.
Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith.
I mean, this is a whole great series right here.
You could go through this.
These are things that we have to add to our faith.
These things don't come automatically, okay?
Our faith, our faith in Christ is just the beginning.
Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge
and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience.
Patience is something that has to be added to your life.
It's something you have to put into practice.
And a great opportunity to practice that
is when you have a friend, you have somebody you care about,
and you try to give them advice and they don't receive it,
that's the time to be patient with them, okay?
But that requires spirituality, doesn't it?
That requires the Holy Ghost.
It's something you have to add, okay?
But notice here that it goes patience and to patience godliness
and to godliness brotherly kindness.
Brotherly kindness, what's that?
Friendship, being a friend, being kind to a brother,
being kind to a sister, to have that brotherly kindness
is something we have to add to our faith as well.
But what comes first? Patience.
If we're going to be friends with people,
we have to be patient with them.
That's what it means to be a friend to somebody,
to be patient with them.
Look, if we're going to have friends,
if we're going to have real friendship, that we need,
if we're going to have the iron that sharpens iron in our lives,
if we're going to have people that can be a refreshing to us
and us to them, we must learn to be patient with people.
Because even your friends are going to do things you don't like.
Even your friends are going to do things
that you tried to tell them not to do, okay?
Or not do things that you told them to do, right?
We're going to offend one another.
It's inevitable, okay?
Anyone who's been married knows this, right?
But how does marriages last? Patience, okay?
Patience, right?
That's where patience precedes brotherly kindness,
or precedes, rather. It comes before it.
So patience precedes kindness.
So that's one thing. Friends are patient.
But notice this also.
Friends say what needs to be said when it needs saying, okay?
Because, again, in Paul's situation, right,
the ship of friendship that we're on tonight with Paul,
he warned them it's going to become at much expense
and even of our own lives.
They didn't listen, and now here they are
going through a hurricane, whatever it is,
and they're running for their lives,
and they're trying to get out of the situation.
Paul doesn't just go, I told you so, right?
He knows what to say and when to say it.
He said, well, I already said my part.
But now that life's done the instructing,
they didn't heed my advice,
and they kind of are already thinking themselves
Paul was right after all.
He knows when to say and what to say.
He knows what to say and when to say it.
Look at verse 18.
And we being exceedingly tossed with the tempest the next day,
they lightened the ship.
Now, how do you think they did that?
All those goods that they were so concerned about, overboard.
You know, they're just tossing out the merchandise
that they're carrying.
And the third day, we cast out with our hands
the tackling of the ship.
Now, I'm not a sailor.
You know, I live in the desert.
But tackling of the ship sounds pretty important.
And I don't think it's a football term here.
You know, it's probably the ropes, the pulleys,
things like that, important stuff
that's probably going to help them navigate the ship,
anchor the ship, dock the ship.
This sounds like important equipment.
It's like, we've already gotten rid of a lot of the merchandise.
What next?
Well, let's throw out the anchor.
I mean, who needs an anchor?
You know?
But that's how bad the situation was.
And notice Paul, he already knows he's right.
Okay?
They've already been through a storm.
They've already had to under guard the ship and fix it.
Like Paul, but he's still just sitting back.
And notice, it's the next day.
And then the third day, in verse 20,
and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared.
So now it's just the storms day and night.
The clouds are just, there's cloud cover day and night.
They're not able to navigate probably.
It could be raining this entire time.
It's this terrible storm that they're in.
Many days, they didn't appear, these stars didn't appear.
And no small tempest lay on us.
That's a way of saying it was a really big tempest.
It was no small one.
And all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
I mean, everyone's saying, this is it.
We're dead.
Okay?
That's where they're at.
But look at verse 21.
But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them.
He said, now I think you're ready to listen.
Okay?
Now I think you're prepared to actually hear what I have to say.
Okay?
And he's coming to them, you know,
he could have come to them at any point in the story and said, I told you so.
I told you so.
Right?
I mean, how many things have happened in this ship?
How many days upon days?
How many weeks have gone by where it's just obvious Paul was right?
Okay?
Where at any time he could have just come and said, see, you should have listened to me.
I guess I know more than the captain, huh?
I guess I'm not just some dumb religious zealot after all.
I guess it actually turns out I know what I'm talking about here.
Right?
That's not what Paul did.
Paul understood what to say, but he also knew when to say it.
Okay?
Because that's what a friend does.
You know, sometimes, you know, we might want to say something to somebody,
but we should ask ourselves, when should it be said?
Should it be said at all?
Okay?
Because we ought to make sure that we're, you know, a friend says things
when it's coming from a motivation of wanting to help and not just be proven right.
Okay?
So, after long abstinence, Paul stood forth amidst them and said, sirs.
Now, he did kind of say, I told you so.
Okay?
Because he says, sirs, you should have hearkened unto me.
Right?
Paul's human.
He can't help himself just like the rest of us.
I mean, come on.
He's been going through all, he's been stuck with them through this whole thing, too.
Right?
He's got the same, going through the same perils.
Like, you should have listened to me.
Okay?
Obviously, friends, we're going to, we will get frustrated with our friends.
You know, they're going to do things that frustrate us.
But that doesn't mean we just drop them.
And when friends do something that frustrates us, we just say, well, that's it.
It's over.
Look, if that's our attitude when it comes to friendships, be prepared to not have a friend.
Because friends are going to do things that frustrate you.
Because they're human.
And we're going to do things that frustrate them.
That's what friendship is.
It's patience, and it's knowing what to say and when to say it, more importantly.
He says, you should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have
gained this harm and loss.
So a little, a little lemon juice on the, on the, on the paper cut there, okay?
But he says, and now I exhort you to be of good cheer.
Because, again, what's Paul's motive here?
He wants to help.
Okay?
You know, it's, it's one thing to say I told you so, because he's kind of human here.
But there's, you know, there's another thing where it's like you're, you're, don't kick
a good man when he's down.
You know, don't kick a man when he's down.
You know?
Should have told you.
You should have listened to me.
Ah, where's all your goods now?
No paycheck.
Good luck getting an anchor.
How are you going to dock?
You know, I mean, he could have just gone on.
Where's the tackling?
Where's, you know, but he didn't, you know, he, he said, hey, be of good cheer.
I exhort you.
For there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.
Because, remember, at this point, verse, end of verse 20, they lost all hope that they
should be saved.
All hope was taken away.
They're like, we're dead.
We lost the tackling.
We lost everything.
This storm's not letting up.
We're done.
We're going to sink, and we're going to die and drown, and no one's going to find the
bodies.
Okay?
We're shark bait.
That's what they're saying.
And Paul comes to them and says, hey, no, be of good cheer.
There shall be no loss of any man's life.
Right?
So he's, again, a friend is just trying to encourage.
Right?
A friend is still trying to help them.
Verse 23.
For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying,
Fear not, Paul.
Thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with
thee.
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer.
For I believe God, and it shall be even as it was told me.
Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
He's like, I got good news, and I got bad news.
Okay?
Good news is, no one's going to die.
Bad news, we're going to be cast upon a certain island.
Right?
Again, Paul was proven right.
Okay?
And he did kind of give him a little bit of a jab there at the beginning, but wanted only
what was best.
Okay?
This is what a friend does.
Friends say things with the other person's interest in mind.
That's what a friend does.
Okay?
They say things.
They give advice.
They help.
They say things when they're appropriate, and they say what's appropriate because they're
trying only to help.
So he's proven right, but he only wants to do what is best.
Okay?
So that's that point.
But let's move on to the story here.
My next point about friendship is that friends are not easily forsaken.
Real friends are not people you forsake easily in your life.
Okay?
If you have somebody who just drops you without even so much as a goodbye, that person was
not your friend.
They don't care.
Because a friendship is somebody who's invested in you.
Right?
Somebody who cares about you.
If you really cared about somebody, how could you just from one day to the next pretend
they don't exist?
That's not a friend.
Okay?
Friends are not easily forsaken.
Look at verse 27.
But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about
midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country and sounded, you know,
land ho, and found it twenty fathoms.
And when they had gone a little further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms.
Maybe I got that wrong about the land ho.
Again, I'm not a sailor.
But the fearing, the sounding, you know, I saw it probably in a movie somewhere.
Right?
Okay?
Then they would drop the rope.
I don't know.
Anyway.
Then fearing that we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern.
So they kept that part of the tackling.
Again, if I get my nautical terms wrong, forgive me.
And they wished for the day.
Right?
They would cast anchor and just let there be light.
You know, they're just hoping the day would come and they would survive that night.
But notice verse 30.
And as the shipmen, so again, they're in this dire situation.
They're worried about running aground and wrecking in the middle of the night.
There's no stars and just drowning in the night.
Okay?
Then there's panic takes over the ship in verse 30.
And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat
into the sea under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship.
So they're kind of like, they're like pulling a fast one here.
They're like, oh, we're just casting anchors.
And they're actually letting down the ship to flee the ship to abandon without having
received the command to abandon ship.
Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, except these, the guys that are trying to
flee the ship, abide in the ship.
You cannot be saved.
Then the soldiers cut off the ropes and let her fall off.
And maybe I'm stretching a little bit for this one, but you know, I'm talking about
friendship tonight.
You know, friends stick around through hard times.
Friends don't just say, oh, it's getting a little tough.
Let me just kind of sneak out here to the stern and jump in the lifeboat and see you
guys.
Good luck.
You know, hopefully Paul was right, but I'm not taking my chances.
Friends stick around.
Are you still in Proverbs?
If you go to Proverbs 17, hopefully I didn't get my cross references off tonight.
Proverbs chapter 17, verse 17, the Bible says, a friend loveth when it's easy.
A friend loves when, you know, when it's going to be smooth sailing, when, you know,
there's certainty that everything's going to turn out well.
No, a friend loveth at all times.
That's what a friend does.
This is what the biblical definition of friendship is.
You know, it's a little bit different with the world's definition is today, isn't it?
You know, a lot of people that would call others friends, they won't love at all
times.
They'll love you when there's something they're going to get out of that relationship,
when their self-interests are being met, right, when they're profiting it.
But as soon as there's any hint of danger, as soon as it's going to cost them anything,
it's like, I'm out.
That's not a friend, okay?
A friend is not easily forsaken.
And a friend doesn't easily forsake somebody else.
A friend loveth at all times.
And a brother is born for diversity.
I mean, that's the purpose of a friend.
I mean, friends should be people that we can rely on when things get hard.
When we're being attacked, when we're going through some persecution, or maybe we're
having some kind of health problem, or whatever it is, whatever storm of life comes along,
whatever that storm is named, you know, in this story tonight, it's got a name, Uroclodin,
you know, whatever storm comes into your life, you should have people, you know, that you
can rely on, that would be willing to weather that storm with you.
That's what a friend does.
Friend doesn't just bail when you need them the most.
They don't quit on you.
A friend loveth at all times.
You know, that's the biblical definition of friendship.
Go to Proverbs 27.
I feel like I've had you in Proverbs 27 before, but Proverbs 27, verse 10, it says,
Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not.
Don't forsake your friends, because here's the thing.
Real friends, we're seeing tonight, real friends, you know, don't come easy.
There's not a lot of people in this life that are going to be patient with you and tell
you what you need to hear, you know, and even if you don't receive it, still continue to
be patient and have your best interest in mind.
That's not a lot of people in this life, very few.
You know, the average person out there in the world, you know, is it, you'd be lucky
if you get a flat tire if someone's going to pull over and help you anymore, right?
The world's just getting colder and colder and less considerate, right?
I don't know, maybe it's always been that way, but my point is this, is that real friends,
real friends are going to stick around and be there at all times and always love us and
have our backs, are few and far between.
Don't forsake them, never forsake your friends, because you will need them.
They're born for adversity, the Bible says.
The Bible commands us, thine own friend and thy father's friend, forsake not, neither
go into thy brother's house on the day of thy calamity, right?
You know, this is when you need a friend on the day of calamity, when things are going
bad, when things are tough, when things are hard, that's when we need friends.
For better is a neighbor that is near than a brother that is a far off.
If you better have somebody you can rely on in your own hometown that is a friend to you
than some relative that's, you know, way off, you know, a thousand miles away, because in
the day of calamity, you know, you need to have that person there at arm's length.
That's what a friend is.
And I'll say this, fair weather, right, kind of tying it in with the story tonight, fair
weather friends aren't friends.
These guys would have been happy to stay in the ship if it just, you know, a gentle breeze
all the way to Rome, all the way to Italy, it was just smooth sailing.
No one would have been trying to jump ship, would they?
They'd all been like, oh, this is great, right?
But when things got tough, man, they're looking for a way out.
When it looks like, even after Paul has admonished them once again and said, hey, I already warned
you, like Paul's already been proven right.
He already warned them before they left that this was going to go badly.
It went badly.
And then he tries to reassure them and says, if you just, you know, everything's going
to be fine.
No one's going to lose their life.
These people still don't believe Paul.
They're just looking out for themselves and they're just trying to get out because they're
fair weather friends and they only want to stick around when there's something in it
for them or it's not going to cost them anything.
Those aren't friends.
I don't care how friendly they act.
Now let me, I know I got, I want to get through the whole chapter tonight, so let me move
along here.
Friends encourage others.
So Paul stops these guys, keeps them on the boat, right?
Verse 33, it says, and while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying
this is the 14th day that he have tarried and continued fasting.
So these guys aren't even eating.
They're just, they're so desperate for help.
They're probably all praying to their heathen gods or whatever.
They're fasting.
They're afflicting themselves.
It's a desperate situation.
You know, we just read this chapter and we're like, oh, that sounds like a, like a scary
boat ride.
Like they were literally thought they were going to die, okay?
And Paul says, hey, eat something, right?
And he, and he says, you know, take meat.
Verse 34, wherefore I pray to you, take some meat for this is your, for your health, right?
This isn't a friend to us.
He's looking out for them.
He's looking out for their health, their safety, their wellbeing.
For there not shall not and hair fall from your head of any of you.
He's just trying to encourage them.
And we had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks in the presence of them all.
And when he had broken it, he began to eat.
Then were they all of good cheer, right?
Look, if you have a good friend who can come to you and knows what to say and to help you
and, and you know, that can really cheer you up, can't it?
And it's, it's kind of ironic.
Well, it's not ironic at all actually, but it's interesting that food is, plays a part
in that.
You know, if you've ever gone through a situation, like I know when my mother was passing, you
know, people were coming by the house and they were consoling us.
But you know, one thing that showed up was food.
They didn't just come empty handed a lot of times.
There's something about, you know, you've heard that comfort food, right?
It's kind of interesting.
It's in the story.
They're in this dire situation and Paul's like, you just need to eat.
That's the solution for everything.
Just just have a bite.
You'll be fine.
Right.
But I mean, that's, obviously there's a connection there with, you know, eating and getting that
comfort and not being hangry.
That's not going to help anything in this situation, right?
But Paul's saying all that and insisting on that why, because he knows that's what's going
to do them good, right?
He says, this is going to be for your health, right?
I'm concerned about you guys aren't eating, you need to be taking care of yourself, have
something to eat.
Don't worry.
Everything's going to be fine.
This is what friends do.
They, they go, you know, Paul could have said, hey, you know what?
I'm out at the beginning.
Like, oh, you don't want to listen to me?
You know, I know what's going to happen on this trip.
I can perceive this.
You guys are just thinking about the payday at the end of this trip.
I know what's going to happen.
And he could at the beginning of this trip, you know, tried to escape, get away, who knows?
But he says, all right.
And he goes along with his journey with them and he goes through all the same storms with
them.
He keeps people from jumping ship and he goes through the whole thing with them and all
the way through.
He's just trying to encourage them, to help them, get them to eat something, right?
Paul is somebody who is a true friend.
You can see why Paul had friends everywhere he went.
In spite of the fact that he could get up and maybe rip face, you know, maybe step on
toes and hurt feelings.
He still had friends because of the way he treated people, okay?
What did he do?
He put other people before himself.
That's what friends do.
They put others before themselves.
That's what friendship is.
When we start looking out for the well-being of other people that we consider our friends.
Jesus said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.
Friends are willing to suffer for their friendship.
Look at verse 38.
Because they are looking out for others.
And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea.
You know, that was probably very valuable.
And when it was day, they knew not the land.
So it's not like Paul said something and everything fixed itself.
He's just trying to encourage them.
But they discovered a certain creek with a shore into which they were minded, if it were
possible, to thrust in the ship.
So they're just trying to get up into this island, this land.
And when they've taken up anchors, they commit themselves into the sea and they loose the
rudder bands and hoist up the main sail to the wind and made towards shore.
And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground.
So they're purposely grounding the ship just so they can get to dry land.
Verse 41.
And falling into a place where, oh, I already read that.
The hinder part, the latter half there, okay, just read verse 41.
And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the fore part
stuck fast, so they got that part in, and remained unmovable.
But the hinder part, or the rear of the ship, was broken with the violence of the waves.
So it wasn't like this was some place that was designed for this purpose, right?
They're just running this ship into this little river that's coming out of this island.
And if you've ever been around, you know, a coast, coastal area, you know that when
the sea waves come in, it's not always that tranquil, you know, YouTube video you like
to watch to calm downwards.
You know, just this gentle, sometimes it's very violent, right, big, they're breaking
on waves, the waves are breaking on rocks, that's what they're hoping for.
And the back end of the ship, the hinder part, it's just getting busted on the rocks, beaten
by the waves.
So you know, they are suffering here.
And as a result, look at verse 42.
And the soldier's counsel was to kill the prisoners, right, lest any of them should
swim out and escape.
Because back then, like as you saw in other chapters in Acts, with the jailer that failed
to keep the apostles, he was killed.
If someone was put, if you had a prisoner that was under your watch and they escaped,
your life went for theirs.
So that, you say, well that doesn't sound fair, yeah, but you'd be really good at
doing your job, wouldn't you?
You know, you'd be keeping a very close eye on that guy, you wouldn't be slack if
you knew that that was going to cost you your life, okay?
So they're saying, hey, the ship's breaking up, we're all going to have to make, you
know, we're all going to have to just abandon ship here.
What if one of these guys gets away?
We should just kill them all before we leave.
You know, we're all, they might not make it anyway, whatever, right?
But look at verse 43.
But the centurion, willing to save Paul, did he save his, now they wanted to kill all of
the soldiers, all the prisoners wanted to, excuse me, all the soldiers wanted to kill
all the prisoners, right?
Kill the prisoners, right, so there's more than one.
But the centurion is willing to save Paul, okay?
He kept them from their purpose.
He said, hey, let's not kill any of them.
He didn't say, well, yeah, but save Paul, right?
No, he said, let's not kill any of them.
And he was kind of masking his purpose, like his whole intent was that he wanted to save
Paul.
Because at this point in the story, centurion, the centurion here has done what?
Become Paul's friend.
And it was just, was it because Paul and the centurion liked the same football team?
Was it because they had similar interests?
Was it because Paul and him maybe, I don't know, had a similar background?
They probably didn't.
They're probably from different worlds, so to speak.
The centurion is willing to be a friend to Paul at this point because Paul has been a
friend to the centurion.
Paul has tried to warn them.
Paul has not gloated.
Paul has been patient.
Paul has been an encouragement.
Paul has tried to reassure them.
Paul has comforted them.
And at this point in the story, the centurion is now Paul's friend.
Because a friend, you know, is willing, you know, is willing to put his life on the line
for another person, right?
No greater man, no greater love, excuse me, greater love had no man than this that a man
should lay down his life for his friends.
He's saying, you know, I'm willing to, you know, let this cost me something if it means
I can be a friend in return to Paul, okay?
Because what if one of the prisoners escaped?
Someone's going to swing for that one.
Heads are going to roll.
But he's saying, no, we're going to risk it.
Why?
Because Paul's my friend.
A friend is someone that's willing to suffer for friendship.
This is what it means to be a friend.
And we need friends in our lives, okay?
We must have friends.
And because true friends, you know, they are few and far between.
If you would go to Matthew 18, or excuse me, Proverbs 18, Proverbs 18, that's where we'll
close because it's the end of the story here.
I think this ship here, you know, is a good example of friendship and what it means to
be a friend.
Why?
In the very beginning of the chapter, verse 3, Paul is being refreshed of his friends.
How did Paul manage to have friends?
Just some random stop somewhere.
Oh, I got friends here.
It's because Paul has been a friend everywhere he goes.
And we can see him being a friend in the story because he's showing us what it means to be
a friend, right?
He's doing all these things that a friend would do.
Look at Proverbs 18, verse 24, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly.
You know, obviously, there's the surface meaning in that, what it means to be friendly.
Being polite, being curious, smiling, shaking hands, looking people in the eye, making small
talk, asking where they're going, you know, being friendly, right?
We all do that with everybody.
But to have friends, you know, hopefully, you know, it takes on a different meaning
now what it means to be friendly.
And this is something that if you want to have friends, you must do.
A man that hath friends must show himself friendly or as a friend.
But you know, if being a friend just meant being polite and courteous, we'd all have
a lot more friends.
Because I hold the door open for strangers.
I say hi and I make small talk and I smile at people that I don't even, I'll never know
their names, I'll never see them again.
Good night.
I, you know, sometimes I get a compliment how pleasant I am on the phone.
What can I say, my mother was a switchboard operator, it's just, it's in my genes, you
know.
Sometimes I get on my phone, my wife will be like, wow, you're really good on the phone.
I'm like, well, you know, I am pretty good on the phone.
Let another man praise me, not they own the, she said it, not me, okay.
But you see, that's just, that's a, but that's a pretty low bar to set for friendship, don't
you think?
Well, I was polite, you know, well good, good for you, you know, you have basic manners,
right?
We need friends in this life, we must have friends.
We need iron to sharpen iron, we need people to refresh us, we need people to be there
for us through thick and thin.
So we have to be able, if we want that, we need that, then we must show ourselves friendly,
we must be like Paul in the story.
We must be patient, we must be willing to say what needs to be said appropriately, when
it should be said, to be patient, when it's not received, whatever, okay.
And always have, if we want to have friends, we have to put their interests, their feelings,
what's good for them ahead of our own, okay.
That's what a friend does, that's what Jesus did, okay.
He laid down his life for his friends.
We need to be, and look, I don't know that it'll ever be called upon any of us, and I'd
like to say that I would be able to do that.
You know, that if someone, you know, one of my friends was going to get shot, I'd dive
in front of that bullet.
I don't know though.
You know, but that's something a friend would do when you think about it.
Hopefully it never comes to that, you know, but I know this, that there will be storms
in life, that you can't count on.
There will be hard times, there will be dark days, there will be times when you don't see
the moon and stars for many days, when it just seems like all hope is lost.
That's when you're going to need a Paul.
And look, that's when you're going to need to be a Paul for somebody.
You know, if you want those friends, if you want to get to the end of your journey and
have that centurion look at you and say, that guy's my friend now, then you have to do what
Paul did, right.
And you have to be willing to show yourself to be friendly, in fact, you must show yourself
friendly in that way.
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the Apostle Paul.
Thank you for this great book, the book of Acts, as we come to a close, Lord.
So much great doctrine has been taught, so many just wonderful chapters, Lord.
So full of instruction and teaching and so many things that we can learn from.
And Lord, this great example here at the end of friendship and what it means to care about
other people, even if they don't have your best interest in mind, Lord, to be like a
Paul.
Lord, help us to do that.
We ask in Christ's name.
Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Amen.
Amen
Amen.