Thank you.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to Faith Award Baptist Church this morning
It's such a joy to see you all here for our Sunday morning service find your seats now and take your hymnals go to him number
260 number
260 he is able to deliver the hymn number
260
Once you find your place, we'll begin on that first verse together hymn number 260
Tis the grand esteem through the ages wrong him number two six zero singing up with me on that first now number
216
Tis the grand esteem through the ages wrong
Tis the grand esteem for a more close up
Tis the grand esteem
Alexander Larson if you would let us in prayer please.
Father in heaven we thank you Lord God for sending your son Jesus Christ and for salvation.
We thank you Lord God for the Bible and for our church and we pray God that you please
bless this church service this morning and thank you Lord for helping us to gather here
and we pray God that we can worship you and sing hymns unto you and we pray God that you
please fill Pastor Aniston with your spirit as he preaches your word in Jesus name we
pray.
Christ receiveth sinful men, hymn number 258.
258 sinners Jesus will receive hymn number 258.
Lift it up on that verse now, 258.
Sinners Jesus will receive
soundless word of grace through all.
Man, good singing.
All right, at this time, we'll go through our announcements
together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
On the inside we have our service time, Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service,
Sunday nights at 6, Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we will be actually pausing the Bible study and having Pastor Aaron Thompson
from Shure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington and like five other places.
And so he's going to be coming to preach for us.
And so don't miss it this Wednesday night.
Even if you don't normally come on a Wednesday night,
be sure to come out and hear Brother Thompson preach.
And then we've got below that the soul winning times,
salvations and baptisms across the page.
Of course, congratulations to the Furbays
on their wedding yesterday.
Thank you to everyone who showed up
and celebrated with them.
Keep praying for our expectant ladies
that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
On the back, we got a baby shower coming up.
two weeks from today on Sunday, February 2nd,
two to four for Lola, and that is gonna be,
again, right here, all ladies and teenage girls
are invited to attend.
And then below that, in the other upcoming events,
I'm gonna be preaching at Anchor Baptist Church
in Oklahoma City on not this Friday, but next Friday.
It says Wednesday, it's supposed to be Friday,
January 31st.
because I'll be here on Wednesday of that week,
but Friday, January 31st is what that is.
And that is of course, Pastor Dylan Oz.
He was sent out by Steadfast.
He just got ordained by Pastor Shelley
a few weeks ago, I think, or month ago or so, very recently.
And so I'm gonna be preaching at that church
in Oklahoma City on Friday, January 31st.
birthday donuts coming up February 1st. Pastor Jonathan Shelly is going to be
preaching here on Wednesday February 19th and then of course we have the
Bahamas cruise missions trip. I think we already have about 20 people signed up
for that.
and so if you need any information about that you want more details if you have any interest in
that at all then reach out you can email the church at the church email address or talk to
brother sagora he's the one who's going to be spearheading that trip he's going to be the one
that's on the trip with you on that one and so that is march 23rd through 28th
And so that's gonna be, I believe,
a very fruitful, productive trip
because the Bahamas is just a super receptive place
to go soul-winning.
It's really great because it's almost like
a soul-winning boot camp because you're just
giving the gospel so much.
Because when you go soul-winning in Phoenix,
you gotta get through, you know, 50 people
that aren't interested or more to get to someone
where you present the whole gospel to them.
Whereas over there, it's just,
lots of people wanna talk, lots of people are interested.
And so I just took my teenage daughter and, you know,
she probably gave the gospel more times
just in those couple of days than she had in, you know,
weeks or months previous to that.
And so it really helped her like hone her soul winning
presentation because she's just getting so much practice
right in a row.
So anyway, something you should think about
participating this year, really want to get as many people
to participate this year as possible.
and it doesn't necessarily have to be this trip,
because we're gonna have lots of other trips as well.
And then also, we're always,
wanting people to organize their own trips, too.
And if you just have a certain date or a certain week
that works for you, you can start a trip
and then, you know, as long as it's a good trip,
as long as it seems like it's gonna be effective,
then, you know, we can just get on your bandwagon
and promote your trip.
And so, you know, there's no,
it's not that it's just this week,
but we wanna send as many people to the mission field
this year as possible on a variety of different trips,
times, places, et cetera.
So excited about that, and I believe that's about it
for announcements.
So let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right, you should find the insert
in front of your hymnal with Psalm 19.
If you don't have an insert, please raise your hand
and you'll receive one.
Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect.
The testimony of the Lord is short, making wise the simple, for to be desired are theirs.
all together. More to be desired are they then old, get a much fine gold. Sweeter also than
honey and the honey gold.
Man, good thing everybody. Take your hymnos down. Turn to hymn number 11, number one.
Him number 11. He died for me. Him number 11
Number 11 begins I saw one hanging on the tree in agony and blood. Let's sing this out
Hey attention these words as you see them out together number 11. He died for me sing it out. I
saw
All right, this time we'll pass our offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to
Proverbs 27, Proverbs chapter number 27.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter,
beginning in verse number one.
Follow along silently with Brother Corbin Brock
as he reads Proverbs chapter 27,
starting in verse number one.
Proverbs 27,
boasts not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let another man praise thee in not thine own mouth, a stranger in not thine own lips.
A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy?
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
The full soul loatheth in honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.
Thine own friend and thy father's friend, for sake not, neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity,
for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.
My son be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproaches me.
A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideeth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
Take his garment, that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
He that blessedeth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall
be counted a curse to him.
A continual dropping in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike.
Whosoever hideeth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bereeth itself.
Iron sharpeneth iron so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend who so keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof
So he that waiteth on his master shall be honored as in water face
Anthra to face so the heart of a man
To man hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of man are never satisfied as the finding pot for silver and the furnace for gold
So as a man to his praise
Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar, among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds. For riches are not forever.
and doth the crown endure to every generation.
The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself,
and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
The lambs are for thy clothing,
and the goats are the price of the field.
And thou shalt have goats milk enough for thy food,
for the food of thy household,
and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
Father in heaven, thank you for this day and thank you for faith Word Baptist Church
Please feel pastal with your spirit as he preaches and please give us ears to hear in Jesus name. I pray amen
Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Loyalty to Your Friends.
Loyalty to Your Friends.
I was writing a sermon about loyalty in general, but I was on point one about loyalty to your
friends and once I got like five pages in I realized like this is its own sermon just
about being loyal to your friends because there's so much scripture on this topic.
but the word faithfulness is found in the Bible, and if you look up loyalty in the dictionary,
you'll find that every definition of loyal includes the word faithful.
So for example, I looked it up on dictionary.com.
Number one, to be loyal means to be faithful to one's sovereign government or state.
This would be like a loyal subject of a king. Number two, faithful to one's oaths, commitments
Number three, faithful to any leader, party, cause, or any person or thing conceived as
deserving, fidelity, example, a loyal friend.
And then number four, characterized by or showing faithfulness to commitments, vows,
allegiance, obligations, etc., loyal conduct.
And so we see that every definition of loyal includes the word faithful and of course faithful
is used throughout Scripture. So although this exact word is not used,
this concept is all throughout the Bible and we're going to look at some of that now. Now we
started here in Proverbs chapter 27 where the Bible reads in verse number 9, Ointment and Perfume
So does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.
So we see in this verse that friendship is something beautiful, it's something pleasant,
it's something that makes life enjoyable, right?
Spending time with friends, taking counsel, having deep conversations with friends is beautiful.
But at the end of the day,
That is not the only thing friendship is for.
It's not just something that we enjoy like we might enjoy a good cheeseburger or something like that.
But rather, friendship goes beyond that because look at the next verse,
dine own friend and thy father's friend for sake not,
neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity,
for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.
And what we find is that friends are people that are supposed to be there for you,
when you are in trouble, in the day of your calamity, okay?
Keep your finger there in Proverbs 27
and flip back to Proverbs 18,
and we'll see another verse about this.
And this is a really famous verse
that is usually applied to the Lord Jesus Christ
when it's preached.
And of course, that is a great way to apply this verse
because what a friend we have in Jesus.
But that is obviously not the primary meaning
of this verse, although it's a great application
to think about the Lord Jesus with this.
Primarily, it's talking about just human friendship.
And so it says in verse 24 of chapter 18,
a man that has friends must show himself friendly,
and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Right?
There is such thing as a friend sticking closer to you than a brother.
Many times, friendships are even more important than family relationships.
in our lives. This is the way life ends up working in many cases.
And then just go back one page to chapter 17 verse 17 and we'll see the same thing
where it says,
and a brother is born for adversity.
And so we see that friendship goes beyond just,
oh, someone that I like to hang out with,
and oh, we have so much fun together,
and oh, it's so great.
No, actually, friendship is supposed to be a commitment.
That's why the Bible says,
thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not,
because that's a commitment to be there for people
when they need you, a friend loveth at all times.
right? We don't want to be a fair weather friend where we're only friends with people
when they're an asset unto us, when they can do something for us. And we think about the story
of the prodigal son. He goes out into a far country and wastes all his substance with riotous living.
Later, his older brother says, oh, he spent his money with Harlots, right? And chances are,
if he went out into the far country blowing a bunch of money,
He probably was surrounded by a bunch of people
because the Bible says that when you have money
and you're giving gifts, you're gonna have a lot of friends.
And so I guarantee you that when he's at the casino
and when he was at the bar and the nightclub
and out partying, he probably had plenty of people
hanging out with him and partying with him.
But then the Bible says that when he began to be in want,
when he ran out of money, when there was an economic downturn
and there was a famine in the land,
Nobody would take him in nobody would help him out right so he was surrounded by fake friends
Fair weather friends and of course he'd been disloyal to his father disloyal to his family so no
marvel that people end up being disloyal to him and when he needs help nobody's
there to help him okay and so we see that a friend loves at all times and a
brother is born for adversity okay a man that had friends must show himself
friendly and there's a friend that stick it closer than a brother meaning
that he'll be there for you through thick and thin and when the Bible says a
man that had friends must show himself friendly
is that you know you've got to be a friend unto others if you want people to be a friend unto you.
If you want people to be there when you need them, then you better be there for them when they need you.
Friendship is supposed to be a two-way street, okay?
And that's what the Bible's teaching.
And so,
Do not abandon would be another word that we could use for this.
Your friend in their time of trouble.
And it even says don't even abandon your father's friend.
Right?
Because sometimes there's like a friend of the family
and those relationships are a commitment as well in many cases.
So friendship is pretty important. Okay, and it's gonna be important to you one day
When you're going through a hard time and you need someone to lean on well
Then you're gonna want that friend to be there. Well, you should be that person in other people's lives as well
Because a man that half friends must show himself
Friendly there are some people in our modern society that don't value friendship
And in fact, I feel like as our society becomes more and more prosperous and affluent and as we also get away from Christian principles and morals,
people are becoming more selfish in general, right?
And the Bible prophesied that in the last days, men will be lovers of their own selves.
And so because of this trend, a lot of people in our modern society don't really value friendship.
They don't think it's important to have friends.
But you know, the apostle Paul, he was pretty big on friendship.
because if you think about some of the things that he said in his epistles,
he brings up a lot of friends that he's praying for, by name, on a daily basis,
and then at the end of his epistles, he'll give shout-outs to various friends,
and the one where he really just goes crazy with it is Romans chapter 16.
I mean, Romans chapter 16, virtually the whole chapter
is just a list of shout-outs.
to various friends that the Apostle Paul has.
And so he really cared about his friends.
John did the same thing in 3 John.
He says at the end of his epistle,
our friends salute thee, greet the friends by name.
And so he didn't belabor us with the big list like Roman 16,
but he just said, greet the friends by name.
You know who they are.
And we don't need to give a big list.
But I think that we have the big list.
in Romans chapter 16 to show that the apostle Paul was someone who cared about people,
he cared about individuals, his friends were important to him.
Now if you would go to 2 Timothy chapter number one,
2 Timothy chapter number one, what's the sermon about loyalty to your friends, right?
Dine own friend and lie father's friend for sake not, right? Because one day you're going to come
and better is a neighbor that is near than a brother that's far off.
And there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother,
and you might need a friend someday,
so you better not forsake your friends in their time of need.
That's what the Bible's teaching.
Now, here's a great example of friendship in 2 Timothy chapter 1.
The Bible says in verse 15,
that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me,
of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes."
Of course, that's not a good example of friendship,
but the good example of friendship is coming in the next verse,
but he's saying, look.
all they, which are in Asia, be turned away from me.
So the Apostle Paul is at a point
where a lot of people have forsaken him,
a lot of people have abandoned him.
And remember, Asia was a big mission field
for the Apostle Paul,
where he had some of his biggest success,
where he had some of the most people saved
and did some of his greatest works
in places like Ephesus.
And now he says, all they
which are in Asia be turned away from me."
And then he even brings up some especially painful people
by jealous and homogenies.
But he says,
And so it's refreshing when a good friend is there for you
in times of trouble when you need them.
And look, the Apostle Paul is in prison.
Many people apparently were ashamed of the chain.
He said, look, everybody turned away from me, but this guy wasn't ashamed of the chain.
That tells me that the reason why a lot of people had turned away from him
was because of the persecution he was enduring,
because of the heat that he was enduring.
They didn't want to get burned by getting too close to that heat,
and so they distanced themselves from the Apostle Paul,
whereas Onesiferous was not ashamed of the chain.
You know he wasn't
Abandoning his friend because now his friend has gone from being an asset to a liability. Oh, I'm done here
I only want friends that can benefit me, right? That's wicked. That's an ungodly view of friendship, right? It's about being a friend
It's about showing yourself friendly and so Onosiferous was a great friend
It says that he wasn't ashamed of the chain
But when he was in Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me
The Lord granted him that he might find mercy of the Lord in that day and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus
Thou know is very well so remember Ephesus was a very important city in Asia what we know as modern-day Turkey
But also known as Asia Minor and that's what the Bible is referring to when it talks about Asia talking about the
Anatolian Peninsula modern-day Turkey and it says here that he ministered unto me at Ephesus
So remember, everybody in Asia turned away from me, but then Onesiphaeus is the exception.
So this is an Ephesian guy because when he's in Ephesus, he's ministering unto him a ton.
But then even when the Apostle Paul's in Rome, which is of course very far from Ephesus,
when Onesiphaeus is in Rome, he sought him out very diligently because he knew that the Apostle
probably a little bit harder than just picking up a cell phone and just dialing Paul,
hey, you still in Rome? I know you're on house arrest. How's that ankle bracelet treating you?
Let me just come by and see you. You know, obviously it might have been tough
to figure out where the apostle Paul is on house arrest, where he's staying. So he
took a bunch of time out of his schedule to make a point.
to go find Paul, right?
To ask around.
He probably had to spend days or even weeks
looking for the Apostle Paul
because it wasn't just as easy as just googling it
or making a phone call.
He had to figure out where the Apostle Paul is.
He sought him out very diligently
and found him, right?
Finding Paul was a challenge.
to figure out where he even is to visit him.
And have you ever noticed those friends in your life
that just never make the effort to reach out to you?
They don't make the effort, like they won't pick up the phone,
they won't visit, they won't do anything.
Or how about this, you'll travel thousands of miles
and you'll be close to them.
They won't drive like the last 20 minutes
to meet you where you're at.
You've come 2,000 miles and they won't go the 30 minutes or the hour or whatever, you know what I'm saying?
It's like they because they just don't really value your friendship that much and there are a lot of people who they're just they
Don't make the effort to pick up the phone to send a text message to send a letter to send a card
Send an email come see you make time for you, right?
And you have these one-sided friendships in your life often
And it's really sad.
Onesiferus wasn't that kind of a guy.
He wasn't just one of these friends that just takes and takes and takes when it's convenient
for him.
No, when it's inconvenient for him, he'll go out of his way to be a friend to the apostle
Paul when Paul's unpopular, when all the rest of his Ephesian buddies and Asian buddies
have pulled off.
Away from the Apostle Paul's friendship he makes a point to go out of his way to see Paul even in a distant land
And so this is a great example of friendship
And of course the Apostle Paul is wishing him well for this the Lord granted him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day
And in how many things he ministered to me at Ephesus thou knowest very well, right?
Now go if you would to chapter 4 of the same book we're in 2 Timothy because I want to make this point as well
Friends who were disloyal in the past can later redeem themselves.
And I think a great example of this is the apostle Peter, right?
Because Peter was a disloyal friend to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus Christ is arrested, he's going to be crucified,
and people are confronting Peter just casually in conversation like,
hey, you're one of his disciples too, right?
It's not like they're trying to place him under arrest or something.
But it's like a serving maid the waitress is like hey, you know you were also with his disciples
No, no, I don't know him. I know not the man right so this was a disloyalty of sorts
He's not being loyal to his friend the Lord Jesus Christ
Of course, the Bible says greater love hath no man than this that a man laid down his
life for his friends.
But Peter just denies even knowing Jesus.
And of course, this makes Peter very sad.
He goes out and weeps bitterly.
But he's restored later, right?
Because Jesus comes to him and he says, Peter, loveest thou me more than these?
And of course, he's right to question Peter's love because Peter was disloyal and Peter
denied him.
And so he's questioning his love.
But Peter, of course, he's sad, he's grieved,
he says, Lord, you know I love you.
But here's how Peter really redeemed himself,
is that Peter went out of boldly proclaimed Christ after that.
And so, he showed so much loyalty to Christ in the book of Acts that he ended up ultimately
dying for Christ, according to John 21, what it prophesies there.
So he ultimately went on to die for Jesus Christ, and so he was disloyal, but he repented
and redeemed himself, right?
And I think that there's probably a little bit of that in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 16
No man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge,
because I think that when he says that my first answer,
no man stood with me, the implication is that subsequently,
some people did stand with him in the long run,
but at the first answer, nobody stood with him in the beginning,
and he says, hey, Father, forgive them for that, right?
Let not that be laid to their charge.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
because of course, the Lord is the ultimate friend.
that sticks closer than a brother.
Now I was saying the Lord stood with me and strengthened me
that by me the preaching might be fully known
and that all the Gentiles might hear
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
Go if you went to Job chapter 6.
When we think about friends
and we think about loyalty to your friends
and we think about being a friend
and being there for people when they need us
and honoring that commitment that is implicit in friendship.
One passage that we might think of in the Bible is the story of Job
because of the fact that Job is visited by his three friends.
Now, Job's three friends are not really the worst friends imaginable.
Now, obviously they're not good friends, in one sense.
But they're also not as bad as a lot of other friends.
Like, I've had a lot of friends that were way worse than Job's three friends.
They made Job's three friends look great.
Because if you think about it, Job's three friends,
at least they care enough to go out of their way to visit him
and spend a week with him.
So at least they're spending time with him,
they're spending a week with him.
And although they're wrong, although they're misguided,
their heart seems to be in the right place,
even though they're doing something stupid,
falsely accusing Job and so forth.
Here's the thing, at least they're there,
at least they're saying it to his face.
You know, they're not just going and making a YouTube video about Job or something and then contacting him later
You know first going live to the whole world then come back. Oh, oh, hey, can I talk to you Job?
No, you know at least Job's three friends had the decency to come and talk to him
Face-to-face they cared about him and then ultimately they end up being sorry
and getting things right and apologizing
and everybody lives happily ever after.
So Job's three friends are not the greatest friends,
but they're not the worst friends either.
But they're still bad friends, you know, in general.
But look what the Bible says in Job chapter 6 verse 14.
It says,
but he forsake it the fear of the Almighty.
Now what's interesting about this is that
showing pity to your friends is apparently something that God expects.
And how do I know that God expects us to be loyal to our friends?
Because the Bible says that pity should be showed from this friend,
but he, the bad friend, forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
Apparently, the fear of God would motivate me to be actually loyal to my friends
and not throw them under the bus and not forsake my friends.
That makes sense because God says,
dine-own friend and thy father's friend forsake not.
You say, well, I'm just going to go ahead and forsake my friends anyway.
because the Bible literally says that pity should be showed from a friend,
but unfortunately, instead, that guy forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
Sounds to me like God expects us to be good friends.
Friendship doesn't seem to be optional in the Christian life.
Look if you would at verse 15.
It says, my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook.
and as the stream of brooks they pass away,
which are blackish by reason of the ice
and where in the snow is hid,
what time they wax warm, they vanish.
When it's hot, they're consumed out of their place.
The paths of their way are turned aside,
they go to nothing and perish.
So Job here is comparing bad friends
to these sort of seasonal brooks
that are there only at certain times of year,
and actually when you need them the most
is when they're not there.
Because when would you need to drink from the brook the most?
Probably the height of summer.
Oh, it's totally dried up at that time, right?
And then you might need it in the winter while it's frozen.
So it's only at the most beautiful times of year,
in the spring and in the fall, you know, when it's flowing,
only when it's nice outside.
This is the fair weather friend.
Now, this reminds me of a hike that we like to do,
which is, what's that hike called that we like to do?
Barnhart, who said that?
All right, thank you.
Barnhart is a really cool hike, Barnhart Trail.
It's on the way to Payson.
You pull off to the left and there's a lot of really cool
like geological, geological things going on.
It's really cool, fascinating.
But anyway, it's really neat.
And there are some really cool like waterfalls
and springs of water.
But if you go there at the wrong time, they're dried up.
They're not, they're not going.
It's like a seasonal thing.
And so you got to be there at the right time of year.
And so these bad friends, they're deceitful.
They deal with you deceitfully as a brook.
Like, yeah, look at me.
I'm beautiful, clear, fresh, refreshing water
till you need me the most, and then I'm gone.
So he says they've dealt deceitfully as a brook.
as the streams of brooks they pass away,
which are blackest by reason of the ice,
and wherein the snow is hid,
what time they wax warm, they vanish.
When it's hot, they're consumed out of their place,
so if it's too cold, they're not there.
If it's too hot, they're not there.
They're only there when it's convenient for them.
And this is how a lot of friends are, unfortunately.
And this is what Job is bringing up.
He's lamenting the fact that his friends are not refreshing him
when he's going through his ordeal.
The paths of their way are turned aside.
They go to nothing and perish.
Now, here's a common excuse that people will have
for forsaking their friends,
throwing their friends under the bus
when their friends are in a bind,
is that they say, well, it's their own fault.
They'll blame you for your predicament and that's why they're not going to be there for
you because it's your fault, what you did, you know.
And you could probably think about this in Paul's case, probably a lot of people are
saying like, well, you shouldn't have gone to Jerusalem and preached that sermon in Jerusalem.
That's why you're in Rome.
That's why you're in prison.
So therefore, I'm not going to visit you.
I'm not going to refresh you.
I'm not going to stand with you.
I'm not going to support you because that was your own stupid fault for going to Jerusalem
And here's the thing, in many ways they would have been right, because he really shouldn't
have gone to Jerusalem, and the Holy Ghost was even warning him not to go to Jerusalem.
He went there anyway, and he kind of did screw up a little bit.
But here's the thing, he screwed up in a minor way, but he's still preaching the Gospel
of Jesus Christ to crowds in Jerusalem.
He's still being used by God, and even after he goes to Jerusalem, even though it was a
bad idea, God still tells him, fear not, I'm going to use you to preach to those in Rome.
you're going to be preaching to Caesar's household.
And so, a lot of people's excuse is just,
well, it's your own fault, therefore I'm not going to help you,
even though you've been my friend for years,
I'm not going to help you because this is your fault or whatever.
And you can imagine this too in our modern day,
well, you shouldn't have preached so hard against the homos.
You know you you went a little too far in that sermon, so therefore I can't support you
And here's what's funny about that is that you know a lot of my
Friends have come under fire for preaching hard against sodomites and they've gone through
Persecutions even worse than I've gone through because I've been persecuted for preaching hard
But honestly, I feel like several of my friends have gone through worse persecutions
For the preaching that they've done. I feel like my persecution was minor
Compared to a lot of the persecutions that they've been through
And here's the thing, I could have easily,
in some of those situations, gone back to those sermons.
really analyzed him with a fine-tooth comb and said like well I wouldn't have
said it quite like because guess what I wouldn't have said it quite like because
we're all different and and maybe I could have looked at it and said well he
did go a little too far here well you know I wouldn't have said it that way or
well he kind of brought it on himself by wording it that way or whatever is that
what I did no that's not what I did because I'm a hundred and ten percent
I'm not going to sit there and say,
well, you know, you kind of brought this on yourself
by the way you did it or the way that you said it.
No, it was always,
I support the man of God,
he's right.
And here's the thing,
we don't expect people to be 100% exactly perfect and sinless.
Or we're not going to support the pastor.
We're not going to support the man of God.
Now, hey, we are going to support our friends.
We're going to support God's people.
We're going to support Christians
against the unsaved, reprobate, sodomite masses.
OK.
And so, yeah, you can always come up with an excuse
why you're gonna abandon your friends
in their time of trouble.
Like, well, it's your own fault
that you're in this situation
or you made a bad financial decision
and so this is your own fault
or you did this mistake here
or you said this or whatever.
Obviously, you can always find some little fine print
for you to kind of wiggle out of your commitments
to your friends.
right, and why you're going to abandon your friends, but it isn't right.
And here's the thing, if you look at Job and his friends, because we're in Job 6,
the part about the seasonal Brooks there, a little bit later in the same chapter,
you're going to see him talk a little bit about this subject of accusing him,
even though they don't really have a specific accusation.
Because here's the thing, just because your friends aren't perfect doesn't mean you abandon them.
But what's even worse is Job's friends, they're not even pointing out something specific that he did wrong.
It's not like people could say about the possible,
hey, you shouldn't have gone to Jerusalem or something.
I mean, Job's friends can't point out any law
that he's violated or anything he's done wrong.
It's just this sort of vague accusation
that Job's friends are making like,
well, you must have done something wrong
or these bad things wouldn't be happening to you.
We don't really know what that is.
But, you got these physical problems, financial problems, family problems.
You must have done something wrong.
You need to get right with God.
And Job's like, I didn't do nothing.
And they're like, you must have.
Because where there's smoke, there's fire or whatever.
But look if you would at verse 24 and what Job says, teach me and I will hold my tongue
and cause me to understand wherein I have heard.
How forcible are right words, but what is your arguing reprove?
Do you imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
Yeah, you overwhelm the fatherless and you dig a pit for your friend
now therefore be content look upon me for it is evident unto you if I lie and
So we've got jopes three friends. So on the one hand, we've got people that that
They they don't
Support their friends because they say well, you know, he brought it on himself
So I'm gonna abandon him because he wasn't perfect or whatever. He made a mistake. That's number one
then one other step of a
Worst friend is Job's friends who basically don't even have a clear-cut specific accusation
It's just this kind of vague
Well, you must have done something wrong
But then we could even take it a step further of friends that are even worse than Job's three friends
the people who love to tell you how much they love you
while they're stabbing you in the back.
These are the worst kind of friends.
The friends who, they tell,
you know I love you so much
as they're stabbing you in the back.
This is the most sickening worst kind of friend.
And here's a little test.
We're gonna do the love test.
This isn't one of those things
where you both grab the handle and put it in a quarter
and it tells you if you're compatible.
Okay.
But we're gonna do the love test. Here's a love test. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor
How's that?
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor
Therefore love is the fulfillment of law people who are harming you injuring you attacking you do not love you
Okay, because love works no ill to his neighbor
All right, so people whose goal is to destroy you, but I still love you so much, no you don't, okay?
And so, you know, some of my worst enemies over the years, you know, have told me how much they love me
as they're slandering me, stabbing me in the back, gossiping about me, attacking me publicly.
That's why the Bible says, let love be without dissimulation.
Because there's a lot of simulated or fake love out there.
You know, Ezekiel chapter, and if you would turn to 1st John 3, here's a great verse in
1st John 3.
While you turn there, I'm going to read it for you from Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 33, 31 says, they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee
as my people.
Right?
Because Ezekiel is a preacher.
And God's telling them, you know, these people, they come and they sit, and they sit before you as my people.
And they hear thy words, but they will not do them, for with their mouth they show much love.
It says, with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
So with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
And there are multiple ways that you could legitimately interpret that.
But really, they're just into material things, right?
They show much love toward God, but really they just want money and material things, and their heart is on the things of this world.
But, you know, another way that you could also legitimately interpret this is that they show much love to Ezekiel,
but really they envy Ezekiel, right? Because the people, your fake friends are usually the ones who envy you.
Or in our modern vernacular, you'd say they're jealous of you.
Right, and so you get friends around you and you know, there's this there's this phenomenon of people hating it when their friends become successful
And it's like what in the world like you would think that if your friends succeed and thrive and do well
You're supposed to be happy
But there are people out there that actually
Want their friends to fail and when their friends are doing well it bothers them that is the worst kind of friend
That is the fakest friend ever
But any way you slice it
Showing much love with your mouth is different than having much love in your heart.
According to Ezekiel and many other scriptures in the Bible.
Look what the Bible says in 1 John 3 verse 17.
But whoso hath this world's good and seeeth his brother hath need
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word.
Neither in tongue, but in deed.
and in truth, right?
So how are we supposed to show our love
just by saying, I love you, I love you,
I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love,
Actions speak louder than words, and when the Bible says,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue,
he's saying, don't only give lip service to love,
you better do it in your actions, show that you love.
And again, this goes back to the love test.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, okay?
Let us not love in word, neither in tongue,
but indeed in truth.
Now look, me personally, let me say this,
I am not really personally the most affectionate person
in the world, not gonna lie.
I'm just not a super duper affectionate person, except with my wife.
I am extremely affectionate with my wife.
That's true.
But other than that, I'm just not a super affectionate person.
And perhaps this comes from the fact that when I was growing up, I wasn't, you know,
my parents weren't super affectionate with me.
It wasn't really like a super lovey-dovey, kissy, huggy kind of a, I love you kind of
a house.
I did not doubt that my parents love me.
I knew that my parents love me.
I had a great childhood.
I had wonderful parents.
My parents were very good to me.
And looking back, I see all the sacrifices
that they made for me and how they did so much for me
at their own expense.
And I remember certain times when my dad or my mom would say or do something that made
me feel really loved.
And I realized, okay, wow, my parents really do love me.
But here's the thing, we're not necessarily one of these super gushy families.
Now, maybe you are.
Maybe you are part of a super gushy kind of a family.
Great.
But guess what?
and you can't just demand that everybody be like that
or expect everybody to be like that, okay?
So, you know, like I remember one time,
you know, the pastor of a church that went to,
I don't know if I should even be telling this story, but.
Look, the pastor of a church wrote my dad like a note,
which, you know,
It's, you know, you're right to know, like, hey, you know, I appreciate your whatever,
like, kind of a note.
But, I don't know, I think it had, like, some smileys, maybe a heart or something.
And my dad's like, this seems kind of gay, you know, that's why my dad was like, what
the heck, you know?
And we're like, no, dad, it's, you know, it's just, it's just different people or, you
know, whatever.
And he kind of, he, on the one hand, he kind of appreciated the note, but it also kind
Because he just wasn't used to getting like that level of love from another man. It was just like what the heck?
Just felt a little weird, you know
But here's the thing. It's it's very my point with that is that it's very subjective
It's very subject.
Different cultures are comfortable with different things, right?
You go to some cultures and you just met five seconds ago and they're kissing you on the
cheek and hugging you and you're just like, what the, get your hands off me, you know?
Whereas, you know, it's just, whereas other cultures aren't like that.
And I think, I think in America in general, we're not a super-duper, touchy, kissy, huggy,
super-affectionate nation, I don't think.
You know, so some of this is kind of cultural.
Some of it is subjective, it's different,
everybody's different, but you know what?
At the end of the day where the rubber meets the road
isn't a bunch of kissing and hugging and talking anyway,
it's really your actions.
You know, and I do kiss and hug
and show a lot of effects to my wife
and tell her that I love her repeatedly,
but if I then went out and did actions
that show that I don't love her,
it wouldn't really mean very much, would it?
Right if I'm out talking bad about her behind her back if I'm out
You know drinking up the paycheck, and I'm out committing adultery or doing all these horrible things then you know it
That would mean nothing when I tell her oh, I love you so much here
Let me kiss and hug you and whatever right because actions speak louder than words and we're not supposed to love in
Word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth
And so we show our love by our actions the most.
And here's what's funny is that,
and you know, I heard this through the grapevine,
so maybe it's not even true, hopefully it's not even true,
but you know, I heard it through the grapevine
that a certain person who left this church
was saying that I was not a loving pastor.
And I've actually heard this from multiple people,
like multiple different people have accused me of this.
And so I'm sure somebody's saying it
because I've heard it from multiple sources,
how I'm not affectionate and I don't show enough love.
But what was funny is that this particular person
who I heard a rumor,
That this person said that I didn't love them so you know I'm if you come to me and ask me after the service
I'm not going to tell you who it was because I don't even know if it's true
Because like I said is it was something that I heard from someone else
But what was ironic about hearing this was just that this particular person
I'm thinking when this person went through a hard time and was in need
I was just thinking about everything we did for this person and
I was just thinking like I don't think any other church in America would have done that for them
And I was thinking of like concrete stuff that we did
And I'm thinking like, well, that's funny, if we don't love you,
then why are we constantly doing things for you?
And why do we do this huge thing for you
that probably no church in America would have done?
And then it's just like, you know, I mean, look,
I can understand being accused of a lot of things,
and I have a lot of personality flaws,
and I have a lot of, you know, things that I need to work on,
just like you got stuff that you need to work on.
We're all human, we're all growing,
we're all trying to do the best we can to serve God,
and obviously we're at different stages of growth,
and we all have our strengths and weaknesses.
But it's just kind of funny.
for me to be accused of not loving someone
whom I had done so much for.
You know, it's just kind of bizarre
because in my book, doing something for somebody
goes a long way.
That shows I love you, because I'm doing,
I know I didn't just, especially because this is a woman.
What am I supposed to just be,
just showing all this love to a woman?
What the heck?
Like, first of all, I'm not gonna be affectionate
with any of the women of the church.
I mean that just you know, so I'm not just going oh, I love you so much
But if I if I'm doing stuff for you, you know, you should maybe get the message. I
Care about you. I love you. Hey, you need me. You're going through a dark time
You're going through a hard time. You need help here. I did this for you. Oh, you don't love me
Well, that's funny because I was always there for you and you weren't there for me
When I needed your help, you weren't there when you needed my help. I was there
And here's the thing, even if I'm not there for people personally,
we got staff that's there for you.
And some people are like, well, you know, I was in the hospital and, you know,
uh, uh, Brother Sigoura visited me instead of Pastor Andersen or Brother Ressal.
Look, if I were in the hospital, I would rather be visited by Brother Sigoura
or Brother Ressal than by myself.
You know what I mean?
I just would.
Because different people are better at different things.
You know what I mean? It's like we're a team here
I'm not gonna play first base and second base and third base and pitch and shortstop and I'm in left field
And I'm a you know, I'm not just like a one-man band. I'm beating a drum with my foot playing guitar got the harmonica
Trying to run the church here. No, we you know, we got a staff
We help people. We do stuff for people. We care about you. We care about our members
We love our church members, and you know what just recently somebody had done something for me like literally
literally nine years ago
Somebody had done something for me in the past
And the staff said, oh, hey, this person wants help with whatever.
And I just said, do whatever for that person, because they helped me nine years ago.
So do whatever they want, give them whatever they want, give them whatever they need,
help them out in any way possible.
It's called loyalty.
Loyalty, right? Because here's the thing, you expect your friends to be there for you.
Your friends have been there for you in the past, and then you're going to turn around and not be there for them.
And then of course, what's the excuse?
Oh well, you know, you did this to yourself because you're not perfect or whatever, right?
Well, you know what? There's always a way, there's always an excuse,
there's always a way to wiggle out of your responsibilities, just like people who want to wiggle out of the most important human loyalty.
Outside of loyalty to Christ is loyalty to your spouse, right?
I mean, you want to talk about being a good friend?
You want to talk about being loyal to your friend?
You know, the most important friend that you should be loyal to is whom?
You know, the most important friend you should be loyal to is your spouse.
You should be loyal to her or him.
And so that is the number one most important human relationship outside of the Lord.
I mean, that's the one person you cannot abandon.
I mean, you've got to be there for them, you've got to be loyal to them, but when people
want to not be loyal and when people want to be unfaithful and when people want to discard
their spouse and move on to someone else, they're always going to find a reason, aren't
they?
Oh, you don't understand.
She wasn't affectionate enough to me, and I've been a pastor for a long time, even before
Oh, you don't understand what it's like because my wife doesn't show me affection.
She doesn't, she doesn't tell me.
I mean, men have come to me repeatedly in my life and told me, my wife doesn't tell
me that she loves me.
She doesn't praise me.
She doesn't give me compliments.
She doesn't show any affection to me.
She's very cold to me.
And look, there are some cold women out there, unfortunately, in this world.
You could use that as an excuse or you can be loyal to your friend.
Or you can do what the Bible says and be loyal to your spouse and it's till death do us part.
But if you want to find an excuse, you're always going to be able to find an excuse.
And here's the problem with modern-day Christianity and even modern-day independent fundamentalist Baptists.
Okay?
Is that they have in their statement of faith,
adultery, abuse, or abandonment, the AAA exemption clause.
And so you'll find statements of faith all across America in Baptist churches,
independent fundamental King James, only Baptist churches,
adultery, abuse, and abandonment are the three ways out
where they say we're against divorce except in these situations.
You know, I remember going to a giant independent fundamental Baptist conference, right?
It was pastor's school in Hammond, Indiana.
There were thousands of pastors there from all over America.
Most of them are independent fundamental Baptists.
And I remember a preacher, and this is many, many years ago.
I mean, we're talking...
20 years ago, literally 20 years ago, and the preacher gets up and is yelling about how these are not grounds for divorce
It's till death do us part. It's for better for worse
You know there are none of these grounds for divorce that people are claiming and you could have heard a pin drop in there
Which is a few amens one of them being mine
It was like the preacher was up there preaching it, right?
He wasn't getting a lot of love from the congregation on that particular point
because so many fundamental Baptist pastors across America are wrong on this.
They're wrong. They twist Scripture and get it to teach something that it does not teach.
And they have all these excuses and all these grounds for doors,
and that's why the divorce rate amongst Christians is pretty much the same
as the divorce rate among non-Christians.
Help us all isn't that embarrassing?
That the divorce rate among Christians is pretty much the same as the divorce rate of the people in this world
It's that kind of stupid teaching that causes it
Okay, and that's why Faithful Word Baptist Church, for the last 19 years, has made this
super clear that you are to stay married till death do us part.
There are no grounds for divorce over adultery, abuse, and abandonment.
It's baloney.
It's not with, and I'm not going to preach on it right now.
I've already done full sermons on it.
You can go listen to them.
But here's the problem with this trifecta, adultery, abuse, abandonment, is that anybody
But anybody can make it fit one of these three things.
Because this is what you'll constantly hear.
Oh, adultery, abuse and badminton.
Oh, adultery.
Oh, he looked at a woman to lust after her.
He looked at pornography or whatever.
Therefore, I'm going to abandon my spouse.
That's what you'll hear on that one, right?
Abandonment.
Oh, well, this is what I've heard out of an independent KJV pastor about, he said, well,
he's already abandoned you emotionally.
He's you know, he's abandoned you emotionally because he's not showing affection or spending time with you or whatever, right?
Abuse, okay, this one you could just have a field day with because now everything's abuse
verbal abuse
Emotional abuse so basically every single couple could just pull out a mean thing that somebody said right?
Oh, my husband said something mean to me
verbal abuse. My wife said something mean to me, verbal abuse, right? Or, you know,
for example, I read a story about in Colorado where a woman was put in jail
for 24 hours because she threw a raw hot dog at her husband. So she threw a raw
hot dog at him.
She went to jail and had to spend the night in jail
and then she was sentenced, she was convicted and sentenced
and had to do anger management, community service,
and everything for abusing her husband
by throwing a raw hot dog at him.
You know so it's just like so the point is and here's the thing you say well
That's not what they mean when they well when they say abuse you know that it doesn't matter what they mean
Because it's what the people in the congregation or hearing that matters
It doesn't matter what they mean when they say oh, yeah, of course we're against divorce
Except in cases of adultery abuse and abandonment and everybody's just like me me also me
because they just find a way to make it fit their situation
where they're like, oh, abandonment.
Yeah, he goes on camping trips without me.
I feel abandoned.
He threw a raw hot dog at me in anger.
I feel abused.
He said this to me.
She said this to me.
Oh, adultery?
Well, yeah, I caught him checking out a babe when
we were walking down the street the other day.
He committed adultery in his heart.
and you guys think you think I'm being silly right now,
these are all real stories.
I am not making any, none of this is fiction.
I could give the names I'm not going to
because that'd be wicked for me to just, you know,
blur it out people's personal business.
But I'm telling you, I got people in mind right now
who told me my wife is divorcing me
because I looked at a dirty magazine.
Or, my wife is divorcing me because, you know, I supposedly abandoned her emotion.
I mean, I've had a pastor tell me to my face!
Oh, well, he'd abandoned her emotionally.
To my face.
Okay, these are all real things, real stories.
That's why the divorce rate is through the roof.
Because it's always so easy to find excuses for why you're not going to be loyal to your friends,
and even the ultimate, most binding friendship of all, which is marriage, why you're not going to be loyal to your spouse.
Because whenever you have this loophole, you're going to find it.
Because the reality is you just don't love your friend.
That's what it comes down to.
Here's the thing, if you love your friend, you're not going to be ashamed of the chain
and you're not looking for, see some people are looking for an excuse not to be loyal
to their friend.
Other people are looking for an excuse to be loyal to their friend.
You know, I'm not looking for reasons to divorce my wife.
I'm looking for reasons to stay married to my wife.
But here's the thing I'm not out there trying to try to figure out. So how can we make my situation fit?
This that you know what you'd say if I were doing that if I were sitting there conniving like that you'd say
Well, you don't love your wife
And that's the real problem was the Bible say husbands love your wives
The Bible says that wives are to love their husbands love their children
Okay, and so the point is that yeah, if you don't love your friend, of course, you're gonna find an excuse not to go visit him when you're in Rome
Of course, you're not going to take the time to reach out, especially when it's so easy
to reach out now.
It's a matter of just picking up the phone, it's a matter of sending a text, it's a matter
of sending an email or whatever.
You know, Onosifras is willing to jump through hoops to make sure that Paul knows, hey, somebody's
still supporting you.
I know all they that are in Asia have turned away from you, not everybody, because I'm
with you, Paul.
He made a point and it would have been easy to send a text for us today, but even when
But the point is, if you don't love your friend, you're not going to be loyal.
If you don't love your wife, if you don't love your husband, you're going to look for excuses to dissolve
that union that is not supposed to be dissolved by anything other than death, okay?
It's supposed to be a lifelong commitment, and yet everybody's got an excuse and a reason why.
And by the way, this other thing now, and by the way, nothing new under the sun?
20-some years ago, I had a pastor tell me to my face.
He said, I've never, in my X amount of years of ministry,
he said, I've never counseled anyone to get a divorce.
I've never told anyone to divorce their spouse.
And this was like a point of pride with him.
As I watched person after person after person get divorced
under his ministry, while he's their pastor,
they're divorcing everybody.
Why because this is what he wouldn't he would never counsel anyone to get a divorce, but he would counsel sometimes a separation
What kind of dumb crap is that like oh, well you can't get a divorce, but you can get separated
Really because last time I checked the Bible says letting out the wife depart from her husband
Wouldn't separation be like departing from your husband?
What is that like well, you know you can't get a divorce, but you could get separated
And he told, this guy told specifically a woman,
oh, your husband has marijuana in the house?
Separate.
Now look, I hate marijuana.
I hate drugs.
I hate it.
Okay, I don't want anything to do with it.
I'm against it.
I think it's stupid.
It's wicked.
It's wrong.
But if your husband smokes pot, he is still your husband.
You are still married to your husband, and you can't say, well, I'm going to separate
from him until he quit smoking pot.
He's probably smoking pot from dealing with you, because of the way that you are with
that attitude.
No, I'm just kidding.
The point is though, I'm super good, look, one time when I was a teenager I was dating
a girl briefly and I found out that the girl that I was dating tried marijuana one time
at a party.
I just found out she took one little puff, I don't even know if she inhaled Bill Clinton,
but basically she took one little hit off of a marijuana cigarette at a party and I immediately
And she's, oh, come on, it was just one little puff,
it was no big deal, I'm not going to smoke.
I'm just like, nope, I'm done here, I'm done.
That's a red flag, I'm done.
Same person went on to become a drug addict, literally.
Literally, and you know, I believe that she's sober now,
so praise God for that, thank God for that.
But you know, guess that red flag did mean something
because she did ultimately get into drugs.
So I'm not defending drugs at all.
But this is what people say, oh, you're defending drugs
because you're against the separation.
No, I'm against separation because I'm against separation
because that's your spouse, it's till death do us part
and you stay married.
And look, I'm 100% against pot, I hate it,
it's wicked, it's stupid,
but you know what's even more wicked and stupid
is saying, oh, you gotta go get your own apartment
or you're gonna go get your husband his own apartment
because he smokes pot.
Or, and look, forget pot, fill in the blank with any of your other 50 million excuses.
Go ahead and fill in the blank of whatever it is.
Well, you just gotta get separated, separate, folks, when you get separated, that's just
a stepping stone toward getting divorced is all that is.
You know, it's just basically like a dress rehearsal for being divorced.
because it's like, okay, now we're gonna separate.
Now we're having even less of a relationship.
Now we're getting used to living separately.
Now we're used to paying the separate bill
of having this apartment and this house and everything.
And it ultimately ends up leading to divorce.
It's wrong, it's sin, it's stupid, it's retarded.
Other than that, it's a great idea, but just,
it's just wrong.
So, you know, we got a bunch of hypocritical
phony pastors out there preaching,
Oh, divorce, yeah, we don't do that, but separation, you know?
And then it's like, yeah, you can just abandon your wife for months,
but just don't get divorced.
You can abandon your husband for months, but just don't divorce,
and then they turn around, and then all of a sudden,
after they basically prescribed abandonment by saying,
you can be separated, which, well, here's another word for separation.
Abandonment!
And then they're going to turn around and say,
oh, well now you have grounds for divorce
because of abandonment.
So it's like they're telling one person to abandon.
They're telling other people you can get divorced
if you're abandoned.
And then they're saying,
we didn't tell anyone to get divorced.
We just told people that it's okay to abandon your spouse
and that if you're abandoned, you can get divorced.
And then by the way,
there's also this doctrine that says,
well, if they divorce you, that's on them.
Don't you divorce them, but if they divorce you. I've seen couples literally in an arms race to try to get the other person to divorce them
Like I because neither one wants to pull the trigger
Neither one wants to go down in history as the one who initiated the divorce
So then basically they just try to just treat the other person like dirt and then eventually one of them divorces
And then they're like, oh, well he divorced me. She divorced me. I didn't do that
You know at the end of the day God's looking at your heart
and he knows whether you have love for God
and love for your neighbor,
and whether you have love for your wife,
love for your husband, and love for your friends.
And I know I kind of went off on a tangent about marriage.
Let's come, let's just end the sermon
by getting off of marriage,
coming back to just your friends, right?
Because yeah, marriage is one subset of this category.
Okay, but now let's broaden things out again.
Okay, I'm not only gonna be loyal to my wife only.
I'm also going to be loyal to my friends.
That means people who've been there for me in the past, people who've done stuff for
me, you know, I'm going to be loyal to them.
I want to be loyal to my parents, I want to be loyal to other people who throughout history
have been good to me, done good unto me, and have been helpful to me, been friends to me,
and people that, and look, even people who haven't done anything for me, people who I
just have made them my friend and decided that I'm going to be their friend, well then
you know what, I'm going to be a friend to those people.
And you just say, well, you know, I just don't really, I'm just not really into friends
You know what? I'm sorry that you're such a sad person.
You're such a pathetic person.
Because honestly, friendship is supposed to be part of life.
And it's funny how John had friends,
and Paul had friends, and Peter had friends,
Jesus had friends.
You know, so if Jesus had friends and everything,
you'd say, oh, I just don't really have any friends.
I'm just not really into friendship.
Well, you know what? You should be.
Because someday you're going to wish you had a friend.
And you can just go live alone with your cats
and you have no friends and you're not in church
and you don't have any relationships with anybody
because it's just you and your dog, man's best friend.
Dog is not man's best friend.
Okay, if dog is your best friend,
I feel sorry for you.
First of all, it's came and lived that long
because of how dog years work.
That's not a lifelong friendship.
But it's just like, oh, the dog is my best friend.
You know, these people who say that their dog
is their best friend and that the dog is man's best friend
and I like dogs better than people,
it's not that they love dogs more than,
we all love dogs.
Little bit.
You know, all of us, you know, enjoy a pet
from time to time, okay, except in our family,
but other than that.
But here's the thing, you know what they're really saying?
Is that they don't love people.
They say, like, oh, I just love dogs more.
We actually all love dogs the same.
You just hate people because you're misanthropic
and have a bad attitude.
You know, we need to go through life
building some quality relationships.
Marriage is a great one.
Friendships, church family,
Mentorships and discipleship and things like that those are relationships that we it's not good for the man to be alone
and obviously in a church of
several hundred people you're not going to be able to just
Be buddies and close with everybody, but you know what you should have some people in life that you're close to and
Not just try to go through life alone
Right you should have some meaningful relationships some close relationships in your life
And you say, well, you know, nobody loves me, I don't know,
but a man that has friends must show himself friendly.
Sometimes you have to take that first step
to initiate those friendships.
And you know what, if you have friendships,
and maybe right now you could think of some friends
that you've had for many years or even decades,
friends that you've had for a long time,
maybe you should do a little self-check,
how good of a friend are you?
Do you check on that person?
Do you ever reach out to that person?
Do you ever text that person?
Do you ever call that person?
Do you ever get together with that person?
Or you're not willing to drive the 15 minutes?
Oh, they came all the way to Glendale, Arizona,
but you're like, no, that's too far.
I live in Gilbert.
People are like that, right?
Oh, you're in Surprise, Arizona?
Oh, sorry, too far for me.
I'm in Apache Junction.
I know you came from Timbuktu.
But I just can't drive that 40 minutes
Now look we're all busy. We can't be friends with everybody
I get it, but you know what the least you could do is at least be loyal to your spouse
Have a few friends that you're loyal to and other than that
You know what be a blessing to the people around you and don't be this backstabbing
Gossiping slandering jerk. That's the least you could do
You say, well, I'm kind of a lame friend.
I don't reach out much.
I don't call much.
I don't text much.
Okay, at least you can shut up
and not talk bad about your so-called friend.
Amen?
At least you could not bite the hand that feeds you.
You say, oh, I'm not really that good of a son.
I'm not that good of a daughter
because I don't really reach out to my parents that much.
I don't spend time with my parents.
Okay, how about this?
At least you could stop trashing your parents
to other people, right?
And lying about them.
talk and smack about them. And you know what's funny is that throughout my life
it's so funny because when people used to come up to me and say oh my parents
abused me as a kid I always just I always just assume that they were telling
the truth. I thought they were like sexually abused or like you know that
they were like chained up in the basement or something. You know I thought
that somebody was like putting out cigarettes on their arm or something.
You know what's funny? But now I realize that like 90 some percent of those people were lying to me and we're just a bunch of
ungrateful little snotts
And you know I already knew this about marriage because I've been pastor for 19 years
And every single time a woman walked up to me in the last 19 years of pastoral
Every time a woman walked up to me and said oh my husband abused me. I I never took that at face value ever
I never one time just said, oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.
Oh, that's terrible.
I always said, oh, really, what did he do?
Oh, really?
What exactly have?
Oh, oh, well, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it virtually never panned out.
And look, I know that there are women being abused.
I know there are children being abused.
I get that.
I'm not making light of that.
You know who's making light of it?
You who cry wolf are the ones who are making light of it.
You who make up crap about your husband and lie
because you're trying to justify divorce.
You're the ones who are downplaying the people
who are actual victims.
by comparing your dumb little petty crap to real abuse,
you're the one who's making a lie to me, not me.
I'm not making a lie to you, because I'm telling you,
I've been pastoring for 19 years,
and have them come up to me, and it virtually never panned out.
Virtually always they were lying or twisting the truth in some way.
So, I was smart enough to know that about women who've been divorced from their husbands
are going to lie and say that they've been abused a huge percentage of the time.
And then I would dig in and say, oh, really?
What exactly happened?
What did you do?
What did he do?
Oh, oh, yeah.
Turns out you're not a victim.
But unfortunately, when people told me that about their parents, I wasn't smart enough
to realize that children do the exact same thing.
And they just go around talking about how they're,
oh, it's just a bad childhood.
Oh, it's so abused.
And 90% of the time, they're full of crap.
And you say, oh, we just need to believe all women.
No, because here's what's not fair about that.
Oh, let's just believe all women,
believe all children, believe every victim.
With, you know, how about this?
How about believe the falsely accused?
How about, how about this?
How about innocent until proven guilty
for the perpetrators?
How about that?
because I thought that was a thing.
Isn't it true that like the person who's on trial,
the person who's being accused of something,
aren't they innocent until proven guilty?
But now in our side, we've flipped that on its head
where now every victim is telling the truth
until proven to be a liar.
Wrong. False. It's the person who's being accused of a crime that is guilty until proven innocent.
Last time I checked.
And so this whole hashtag, me too, believe all women, believe all children, believe everything you hear, is unbiblical garbage.
Amen.
Okay, and it makes light of people who've actually really gone through something real.
When you bring up all this fake petty garbage, okay?
And so all I have to say this be loyal to the people in your life
But especially we're focusing this morning on being loyal to your friends, and I didn't even I that was only three of my five pages
So come back tonight for more loyalty talk. Let's bear it
Father we thank you so much for your word Lord, and I thank you for the friendships that I've enjoyed over the years
And I especially thank you for my wonderful wife and the friendship that I have with her
But Lord God I pray that every single person who's here or under the sound of my voice would understand the importance of
showing kindness to those who have showed kindness unto them,
reciprocating good for good and not evil for good,
for being loyal to their friends, loyal to their father's friends,
and cultivating meaningful relationships in their life,
and more important than having friends,
being a friend and not being like those deceitful brooks in the book of Job
that are sort of a seasonal thing,
only when you don't really need them that much.
Lord God help us to be friends in need and in Jesus name we pray amen
Hey man, all right, ladies gentlemen take your hymnos, please we'll turn to him number 10 him number 10
Number 10 near the cross him number 10
This one begins Jesus keep me near the cross. They're a precious fountain him number 10 sing it out on that first number 10
Jesus, keep me near the cross, there are precious mountains free to all a healing stream.
Close from Calvary's mouth.
this morning, we are dismissed.