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Music Music Music Music Music Alright everybody, welcome to Shurf Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your blue psalm books and turn to page number 474. We're going to be singing Sunshine in My Soul. Welcome to Shurf Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your blue psalm books and turn to page number 474. We're going to be singing Sunshine in My Soul. Song number 474. There is Sunshine in My Soul. Let's sing it together on the first. There is Sunshine in My Soul today. More glorious and bright, than glows and many earthly skies. For Jesus is my light. Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll. When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul. There is music in my soul today, a carol to my King. And Jesus listening can hear, the songs I cannot sing. Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll. When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul. You guys are singing good this morning on the third. There is springtime in my soul today, for when the Lord is near, the dove of peace sings in my horn, the flowers of grace appear. Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll. When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul. There is gladness in my soul today, and hope and praise and love, for blessings which he gives me now, for joys laid up above. Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll. When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul. Amen. Good seeing you, brother Eli. Would you have us a word of prayer? Father, Lord, thank you for the chance to sing to you, and my friend, we sing with our fourth part, Lord. I pray we have our eyes and our ears and our heart, Lord. Amen. Amen. Our next song will be our new song, song number 139, Wider Than Snow. If you don't know this song, it makes two of us, so we'll learn it together. Song number 139, Wider Than Snow. Song 139, let's try it together on the first. Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole. I want thee forever to live in my soul. Break down every idol, cast out every foe. Now wash me and I shall be wider than snow. Wider than snow, yes, wider than snow. Now wash me and I shall be wider than snow. Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat. I wait, blessed Lord, at thy crucified feet. By faith for my cleansing, I see thy blood flow. Now wash me and I shall be wider than snow. Wider than snow, yes, wider than snow. Now wash me and I shall be wider than snow. Lord Jesus, thou seest I patiently wait. Come now and within me a new heart create. To those who have sought thee, thou'd never set snow. Now wash me and I shall be wider than snow. Wider than snow, yes, wider than snow. Now wash me and I shall be wider than snow. Good singing. This time we'll have our announcements. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins and go through the announcements real quick. If anybody needs a bulletin, just lift up your hand. One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. Anybody need one? Just lift up your hand. All right. There's hands coming up. Just keep your hand up if you need one. While they're getting those bulletins, I'm going to read the verse of the week. The verse of the week is, A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Verse 18, verse number 24. And on our inside page there, we have just a quick little blurb there from me, saying thank you for joining us this morning and just explaining what kind of church this is. It's an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church. We're King James only, so wanting salvation by faith alone, family integrated. And if you have any questions, please feel free to come to me at the end of the service. We'd be happy to answer any questions you'd have about spiritual matters. And also, if you're not 100% sure that you're saved, or you haven't been baptized, please see one of the ushers, or you could talk to me after the service. But the ushers are the guys with the pins on their jacket that say, Usher, or they should have a pin on their jacket that says, Usher. So if you're not 100% sure you're saved, or you don't even know what that means, then we'd be happy to show you from the Bible how you can know for sure that you're going to Heaven. There's also a QR code underneath my wife's picture right there that says, The Bible Way to Heaven. That's what that stands for. You can scan that with your phone, and in about 11 minutes, it explains what the Bible verse is, how to go to Heaven. So there's also those social media platforms under our church name. You can find our sermons on any of those platforms there. And our service times at Sure Foundation Baptist Church, our Sunday morning service, 10.30 a.m., our Sunday morning service, we've been going through a New Believer series, so I'm going to forego that for our Friends and Family Day, our special weekend. This is actually the eighth year anniversary of our church being in existence. So our sixth anniversary of Sure Foundation Baptist Church was in July, but today is actually, or this weekend would be the eighth anniversary of our church being in existence when Pastor Jimenez, when he first planted the church. This would be that first weekend. And that's why I invited him to come, and unfortunately he wasn't able to attend this weekend, but we're looking forward to having him come again some other time. But anyway, the Sunday morning, so I'm not going to preach that New Believer series sermon this morning. I'll go back into that next week. Sunday evening service, normally we're in Joshua. We haven't gotten to Joshua II yet, but we'll be back there next weekend. Our evangelist from Spokane, Brother Daniel Kutsar, he's going to be preaching for us this evening at 3.30 p.m. And then Thursday Bible study will be in 1 Chronicles 11. We're past the genealogies now. We've gotten into the main story, and so we'll be there Thursday night. Our sowing times are listed below. We do have sowing today between the services, and that's at 1 o'clock. You can either meet in here in the auditorium at 1 o'clock. Brother Sean Conlon is leading that, and you have another captain. Is that? We'll just figure it out on the fly. Okay, we'll just figure it out on the fly. If you're not in the WhatsApp group, you should be in the WhatsApp group if you're visiting from one of our other churches, but if you're not, we will pair you up here or at least give you a group. We have two different groups. The maps are already in the WhatsApp group. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then just see Brother Conlon, and he'll line you up. If you want to just meet on site and you know where the address is or what group you're in, just meet on site there. That's fine, too. Then if you look down, you can see the praise report, the salvation, baptisms, and attendance from last week there. Again, we have evangelist Daniel Kutzar preaching for us tonight, so hopefully you turn out tonight or this afternoon to hear Brother Daniel preach what God's put on his heart. Next Sunday, we have Dr. Phil Stringer. Dr. Phil Stringer, he was able to free up his schedule. There was a hole in his schedule, and I had asked him if he has any openings to message me, and so he did. It's kind of short notice, but he's going to be preaching for us next Sunday, so maybe it's a little bit of a consolation prize not having passed for a minute here. We get to hear Dr. Stringer preach, and he is of the King James Research Council. It's a group of guys that their message is to try to get as much stuff about the King James Bible to this generation, and they want to preserve that, the integrity of the King James. They're not requinites, so they're not way over the top. Or they think if you say believes instead of believeth that you're like some heretic or something, okay? Or if you use the synonym, you know, if you said everlasting versus eternal, then you're some heretic or something. So if a synonym means exactly the same thing, then it's, yeah. Anyway, that's a whole other issue. But anyway, he's basically where we're at on the King James, so it's going to be a great weekend. So if you have any questions or there's something you would like to hear him touch on, please let me know. October 27th is the super soul winning Saturday, kind of replacing. I ended up having to cancel the soul winning marathon a couple weeks ago. But we're still going to go to St. John's. We're going to be meeting up at 12 o'clock and go until 4, and we'll have dinner someplace afterwards. October 31st is the chili and cornbread potluck. And so come up with your best chili and cornbread, but you don't have to make both if you don't want to. But, you know, bring out your greatest recipes and we'll steal them from you. But you're more than welcome to make beans with the chili. I know that's an abomination unto the Texans, but, you know, we're northern Yankee people, so it's okay. But meat, just beanless chilis are welcome also if you're a keto person and you don't want to get down with all the beans. You're more than welcome to do that too. I like it both ways. So, yeah, so you only just have to bring enough for like your family size or whatever. We can all just kind of share. You don't have to make like a vat of chili or something like that. So, but it'd be great to everybody be able to partake together. If you're making something super spicy, we're going to need that labeled. So I don't want any older people dying of heart attacks before the service or children having to be rushed to the ER because they burnt their little mouths. All right. And then, yeah, we're going to have a game night too. So there's a little note there that says if you want to come early, you can. So that's no problem. But I'm not getting here till 4 o'clock. So, but, yeah, it'll be like a dinner before church and we'll see how that goes. So this is our first time ever doing it. And so I'm pretty excited about that. But, yeah, we'll do that on October 31st. Please don't dress up at any costumes or anything. This isn't a Halloween party. Okay. So, anyway, November 6th through 10th is the Faithful Word Missions Conference. If anybody's interested in going to that, that is still happening. And November 26th is the Pi Social after church. And we are not having church that Thursday, which is Thanksgiving. We moved it to Tuesday night. So I'm doing that in respect of all the ladies who are going to be slaving away, making their families wonderful dinners, or probably traveling to somebody else's house or their family's. So I try to be respectful for that. I used to change it to Wednesdays, and then I kept getting glares from the ladies. And so I decided to just do it on Tuesday. So just note that we're not having church on Thursday night that week, Tuesday night. And we're family integrated, so that means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please, if your child becomes super distracting or disruptive in the service, just take them to the mother-baby room that's located back there, or the dad-baby room back there if you're a dad. So no mixing and matching, no moms back there, no dads in that room. But they're not just for that. They're also for changing your baby or whatever you need that for. You're welcome to take them back there. And please keep the distractions back there at as much of a minimum as you possibly can. It's not for just having big group discussions or something. It's so you can train your children. Because the preaching is still able to be piped into those rooms, and people do want to listen to the preaching back there. So just keep that in mind that people do still want to hear the preaching and the music. So also, please silence your cell phones if you would at this time. The donation information is at the bottom of the page. The tithes and offerings for the month of September. That's the total for last month. And we have one birthday, and that is on the 10th, and that's brother Anthony. How old are you going to be, Anthony? How old were you when you first started coming to this church? Are you 18? Wow, you're getting old, bro. You're almost an old man. No, I'm just kidding. You're young still. Well, let's sing Happy Birthday to brother Anthony. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right. Get a special birthday beat down after church. All right. That's all I have for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing another song, and then we'll receive the offering. All right, our next song is song number 463, His Eyes on the Sparrow. Song number 463, His Eyes on the Sparrow. Song 463. Let's sing it together on the first. Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. On the second, let not your heart be troubled. His tender word I hear, and resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears. Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him. From care He sets me free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Great Church, Lord. I just pray that you protect it, and bless it always, Lord. Thank you for this day. We give worship to you in your house. We bless the offering. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Ephesians 2, the Bible reads, And you had He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were, without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make Himself a twain one new man, so making peace, and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Brother Eli we pray for us. Amen. All right. I just want to say thank you also to our people that came from out of town from our various church plants. We've got some folks from Vancouver, B.C. or Surrey, B.C. We've got the Spokane delegation over there, and then SFBC Seattle. Am I missing somebody? Huh? Oh, okay. All right. Well, I just want to say thank you to our visitors that are here from other places too. We had a great day at the pumpkin patch yesterday, so I hope you all had fun too. Looks like you did. The kids had fun climbing the Illuminati hay bale all day yesterday. But the title of my sermon this morning is Friends and Family, Friends and Family. Let's look at the verses I want to focus on, verses 11 through 20 there in Ephesians chapter 2. Let's look at verse 11. It says, Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands. That that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. So there was a time, of course, when the Israelites had the covenant, and the Gentiles around the world didn't have that covenant with God, and they were in general without hope in the world. They did not have that covenant with God, and they were called strangers. So they were not allowed to come into the temple. They were not allowed to do a lot of the things that the Israelites as the nation of God were allowed to do. So they weren't saved in general, and they had no friends of God. They were not friends of God, obviously, so they were in this world without friends. They weren't the family of God. They weren't the friends of God. In verse 13 it says, But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That means made close to God now by that blood. So we now can get in on the closeness to God that the nation of Israel had just like they did. So, For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. So there was that wall that was talking about the temple veil that was there. And when Jesus died on the cross, that temple veil rent in twain it says. It broke in half and that symbolically showed that there is no more Levitical priesthood. There is no more where we have to have some priest take in sacrifices. Now we can go directly to the Father through Jesus Christ. We can pray to the Father. We take that stuff for granted now, but that wasn't always the case. A priest had to go and take that stuff to God. Now we can go right to the throne room of God because we are children of God by faith. It says in verse 15, Having abolished in his flesh the enmity. So what is that word, enmity? Well it means the state of being or feeling or being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something. So that he abolished that feeling. God was hostile towards us. See God cannot, he is not going to deal with people that are sinful. He is not going to let people that are sinners in heaven. So he had to do something to deal with that and that is why he sent Christ for us. So it says, Even in the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. So whereas we could not be friends with God, we could not be in the family of God, he made it so that we could be. That is what it is talking about here. And that he might reconcile, which also means to restore friendly relations to. So he reconciled us and so we are supposed to go as ambassadors of Christ to go and reconcile people to God for him because Jesus Christ went back to heaven, right? So it says, Both unto God and in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity or the hostility thereby. So God used to be hostile to the Gentiles, hostile to people because of the sinful manner of the Gentiles. And so when he sent Jesus Christ, all that was abolished and he is able to, he made it so we can be reconciled to God and that that hostility between us is no longer there. As long as we accept salvation through faith, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Verse 17, And it came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. So the Jews and the Gentiles, right? For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. So what is that talking about? Well, we are the family of God now. We get to be in the family. We are part of the family of God. We are fellow citizens and saints. So that makes us, I mean, so we are in the family and that means we are also friends. Because he has taken away that enmity, he reconciled us and restored the friendly relations with him. So, and it says, And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So who are God's friends and family? Well, they are people that are saved. And in order to be God's friend, you have to be saved. And so he made the way for us to reconcile, but we do have to put our part in, which is faith. We have to have faith to be saved. And, you know, to be his friend, to be his family, to get in the family, we have to believe. So both those things are true. To be God's friend, you have to have faith. To be in God's family, you have to have faith. And also, in our friendships, in our life, we should pattern our friendships after the way that God is friendly towards us. So a lot of the aspects that God has and, you know, some of the things that he says about him being friends to us, we should employ those things in our friendships on earth too. Now, of course, you know, his friendship with us is a little bit different than we would have because he's our Lord also. So, but sometimes those things are true too in life because your boss can be your friend, you know. And so you could have a boss that, you know, you might call him Lord, I guess, you know, as far as Lord is like your boss, right? And you're still friends with them. So David was a king, but yet he had friends, didn't he? He had a friend that went and, you know, went against the counsel of Ahithophel, and he risked his neck to go against that counsel so that David could win that battle, right? So how should we treat our friends? That's one of the questions that I want to answer today, and we ought to be close to family, right? Close to family and relations that we have on this earth, but, you know, sometimes those families aren't saved. And so I want to kind of share how to deal with that, those kinds of relationships. And also, how are we supposed to deal with those that are saved? So we have two different types of families in this world. You know, we do have a spiritual family, and we have an earthly blood-related family. So, and sometimes the people that are in your spiritual family treat you better than your own flesh and blood after you get saved. And it's kind of a weird deal. The hand that rocked your cradle and fed you and nursed you and took care of you when you're sick, when you even get saved, that person can completely turn against you and hit your guts. And that's just a weird thing, you know? It's hard to imagine that it's true, but I'm sure many of you have gone through things like that where your own family doesn't like you anymore. It's just a reality of Christianity that's hard to deal with. But I don't want to be all negative in this sermon. I'm definitely not going to attempt to do that. So, but let's look at Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah chapter 41, and the first thing I want to look at this morning is God's friends, God's friends. And I just want to show you some examples of kind of how he looks at things, who he calls his friends, and why he calls them his friends. Look at Isaiah chapter 41, verse number 8, the Bible says, But thou, Israel, art my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham. What's it say there? My friend. So Abraham was God's friend. Abraham, God went to Abraham with two angels before he went and destroyed Sodom. And he told him what he was going to do to Sodom before he went there. And he actually kind of said, hey, should we tell Abraham what we're about to do? And he said, hey, Abraham's going to be faithful in all his house. He's going to charge his children after him. And so, but God loved Abraham. Why did he love Abraham? Well, Abraham did what he told him to do, for one thing. And Abraham believed God, didn't he? Look at James chapter 2, James chapter 2. And so it is our obedience that God loves and makes us want to be friends with us, makes him want to be friends with us, but it's our faith that also is part of that. So, you know, and James, you know, this is a chapter where he says, Does faith alone save us? But of course we know that spiritual salvation is only by faith alone. But this question is talking about, you know, I'll show you my faith by my works. So Abraham showed us his faith by the works that he did. He showed that he believed in God by literally almost about to plunge the knife in his son to sacrifice him. But we also know that Abraham believed that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead after he did that. So he's not just some weirdo, okay? But, I mean, that's how much faith Abraham had. That's how much he loved God, is that he was willing to believe him, you know, even though it seemed like a really extreme thing that he was asking him to do. Because it is, you know. I mean, most people would say, that's weird. But God stopped him before he did it. He just wanted to know, how far are you willing to go to believe me? Look at James chapter 2 verse 23, it says, And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. So how was Abraham saved? He was saved because he believed God. That's what the Bible says saves you, right? And it was imputed unto him for righteousness. So he had the imputed blood of Christ, even though Christ hadn't died yet. But that back dates after Christ, you know, made that, it back dates to him. And he was saved by his faith. So, it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. So there's two places in the Bible where Abraham's called the friend of God. And God treated him like a friend, didn't he? And so there's one guy early on in the Bible where he was a friend of God. And Abraham is also, you know, he's called the father of faith. And he was before the law and before the New Testament. So, let's look at Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33, verse number 11. And Moses is another man that God really loved. And when he spoke to him, he spoke to him differently than he did other people in the Old Testament. And it was very apparent because Miriam and Aaron were speaking against him. And he came and just really reproved him. He made Miriam leprous. I don't know why Aaron got to get off the hook for that, but it seemed like he was doing it too. But Miriam's the one that became leprous or whatever. But this isn't that occasion here. But in Exodus 33, 11 it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. But what was God is God. Moses is a man. But he spoke to Moses as he spoke to a friend. So it wasn't just some regular relationship of God and man. Moses was special to where God spoke to him face to face. Now of course, he didn't see the face of God the Father. That would be a contradiction, wouldn't it? But he spoke to Moses as a man speaketh to his friend. It says face to face, but obviously he did not see the face of God. There's an account where he sees the hinder parts of God and his face glowed, or shown for like, what was it, 40 days or something after that? So now let's look at Luke chapter 12, verse 4. Luke chapter 12, verse 4. Now Jesus called his disciples friends, didn't he? Jesus was friends with his disciples. And so, you know, people would say, well, pastors shouldn't be friends with their congregation. And I think that that's going a little too far. But there also probably should be some kind of a buffer of some sort where, because sometimes people can get too familiar and then, you know, things can get weird. But he did have this understanding with his disciples. He's like, you know, you call me Lord, and so I am. You know, he's like, let's make sure that this is clear. But he also called them friends, right? So look at Luke chapter 12, verse 4. It says, and I say unto you, my friends. So, and he's talking to a big group of people here. I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you, whom you shall fear, fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. So he's like, hey, I'm your friends, but just make sure that you fear me. Fear God. Fear the person that actually can throw you into hell. You better start fearing the right things. So he's like, you're my friends, but you better fear also. You know, so he had, you know, he wanted to make sure things were in the right perspective. You know, I'm calling you friends, but just make sure you realize, you know, we're not that close, or I'm not going to just chase in you if I have to and things like that. But he also shows that he loves, also, as a friend. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you're of more value than many sparrows. So God doesn't want us to fear outside forces and the wickedness that comes against us. He wants us to fear the right things. We should fear God, but not fear those other things because he says that we're way more valuable than birds. We're way more valuable than animals. I mean, I saw this Twitter post, man, I should just never get on Twitter because it's just like a rainy day or something when I get on there. But I saw this guy who said, you know, there's a special place in hell for these trophy hunters, and it was like this elephant dead or something. And it's just like, there's a lot more people that deserve hell than someone that kills an elephant. I mean, I don't know if there even were trophy hunters. People just post some of the weirdest stuff, and it's probably not even true. Maybe that elephant stomped a bunch of people to death. Who knows? Anyway, but the point here is that all of our hairs on our head are numbered. God, that's how much he loves us is that he knows exactly how many hairs you have on your head. He knows how many I've lost. He knows how many I'm going to get back, hopefully someday. We're his friends, but we should still fear him. We're his friends, but he loves us and says, don't fear those things. Don't fear those outside forces. I love you. I got your hairs on your head are numbered. Now, turn to John 15. And this is like, you know, Jesus paid the ultimate price to be our friends. He paid the ultimate price that someone would do for a friend. And, you know, there's this military comment that says there's only two people that died for you, the U.S. soldier and Jesus Christ or whatever. And it's just like, I mean, I get what they're saying or whatever, but like Jesus Christ is the only one that died for my sins, period. I mean, I recognize that there's people that have put their life on the line to protect people, but I think that most of those guys are, you know, they do things for the right reasons. When 9-11 happened, a lot of people signed up because they thought they're going to fight these terrorists and all this stuff. Then it turns out the weapons of mass destruction weren't really there and that we were going for some proxy war. And a lot of people died because of that. A lot of innocent people died because of that. A lot of citizens in Iraq were terrorized and killed because of that because really what they wanted was oil, you know? War is about, war is a racket and it's about money, okay? Why they invaded, you know, what did Iraq have to do with anything? It's like Operation Iraqi Freedom, freedom from them having lives? Freedom from them having freedom? I mean, I don't know, but it was not, you know, that wasn't, I mean, all I'm saying is that they had good intentions, a lot of these guys. I knew, I worked with someone that was deployed and he was like, yeah, he was just excited because he wanted to go do something good. But Jesus Christ, his sacrifice was for the right reasons. And the greatest reason was so that people could be saved eternally. John 15, 13 says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That is the ultimate sacrifice, is what he's saying. And he says, ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. So is he saying, so if you don't do what he commands, are you his friend? That's kind of what he's saying, right? And obviously we all fail in some aspects of our life, nobody's perfect, but he's just talking, I think he's just talking about in general, okay? So if you're completely just fade out of the Christian life, you completely just, you know, don't keep any of God's commandments, or you don't follow Jesus, or you're not walking with the Lord, you know, you're not really being his friend, are you? But he's saying, hey, you're my friends if you do whatever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. We know God's plan, you know, a lot of people, even bosses at work, they're like, you don't need to know that stuff. You don't need to know the inner workings, just shut up and work, slave. That's basically, you know, they're probably not going to call you slave, because then you're going to be in HR, right? But they'll just say, you know, you don't need to worry about that, minion. They won't say that either, but you know, they're probably thinking it like, don't worry, don't ask questions, just do your job. But that's not what God, God gave us the plan and the blueprint, and he wants us to take forth his plan and enact it. And he's given us the mission, he's given us the plan, he's given us everything and equipped us with all the power, equipped us and told us exactly what he wants us to do with the Great Commission. He says, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. What does that mean? Go get people saved, and that your fruit should remain. And whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you that you love one another. So he also wants us to love one another. He doesn't want us to be in all this strife and disunity. He wants us to be one unit striving together for the faith of the Gospel. That is the main goal, that is the main mission, that is what he came to do, is to seek and save that which was lost. And you know what, he laid down his life so that we could be saved. That is the ultimate sacrifice of a friend, and God did that for us. He sent his only begotten Son to this world for us so that we would be saved. That is true friendship. Turn to Revelation chapter 22 verse 3. Now Moses, God talked to him, says he talked to him face to face, but he also said that Moses, that he couldn't see his face and live. So, and when Jacob wrestled the angel, he called that place Penuel because he saw God's face and lived. Now, he's the angel of the Lord though. So God did appear to him as an angel of the Lord, and he saw his face, so that's what he's saying. I believe that that's like a pre-appearance of Christ, and so he probably saw that face of Christ, because Christ is God, isn't he? So that's why he said if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And so Jesus looks like the Father, so if they saw his face, then they saw what he looks like. God's face is in glory. His face is glorified, so if we saw his face, we would die instantaneously. But there is going to come a day when we can see him face to face, and all these things that he's planned, you know, the fall happened, it was going to happen, and God's made all these plans so that we can still have fellowship with him, so we can still be friends with him, so we can still be in his family, and one day we will get to see his face. Look at Revelation 22 verse 3, it says, And there shall be no more curse. Amen. But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servant shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their forehead. So we will see the face of the Father one day, and this is the last chapter of the Bible, so in eternity, future, we will be able to see the Father's face because we'll be sinless, we'll have glorified bodies that can't die, and God can actually look us face to face for real because there will be no more enmity, there will be no more sin, no more remembrance of sin. And it says, And there shall be no light there, and they need no candle, neither light nor the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. So that's eternity to eternity, and you're like, well, what's that going to be like? Well, I know what it's not going to be like. It's not going to be us playing a little harp on a cloud like Sylvester and Tweety or whatever, which is what I used to think when I was a kid because all I knew was what I saw on cartoons or whatever, but that's not what it's going to be like because that sounds really boring, doesn't it? I don't think it's going to be boring in heaven. I think it's going to be very exciting. So number two this morning, our friends. Look at Proverbs chapter 18, verse 24. So God calls us his friends when we believe on him and when we do what he commands and when we fear him. People are like, you shouldn't fear God. Yeah, you should. Fear is the beginning of wisdom. Fear is the beginning of knowledge, the fear of the Lord. If you don't fear God, you're not going to get saved. I knew that there was a devil, so I knew there must be a God, and if I knew that there must be a God, I knew I was accountable to him and that if I didn't get saved, I was going to go to hell. How are you going to get saved if you don't even believe there's a hell? And if there's a hell, God's the one that made it and he's the one that punishes people there, so I better get right with him or I'm going there. Number two, our friends. So look at Proverbs 18, 24. It says, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Now if you want to have friends, this is a true saying, you must show yourself friendly. You're like, I don't have any friends. I'm an introvert. Well, you have to be a little bit of an extrovert if you want to make friendships. You have to make an effort. Because if you're just like, if one person's the only person's communicating, then it's a hard friendship for that other person. It's like, hey, how's it going? Good. Hey, you're trying to make a conversation with the person and they're just like, uh-huh, yep. If someone has to work and make all the effort towards the friendship, it's not going to be a very fun friendship for the other person. So that's why it says, if a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. You want friends, be friendly. That's how that works. And then it says, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Some friendships end up being closer than your own family relations, which people think, well, that's weird, but sometimes a brother is for adversity. That's also another proverb. A brother is for adversity. Sometimes you just have clashes with your own brothers and sisters and sometimes those things can get so divided as time goes on that you don't, I've seen so many times that brothers and sisters won't even talk to each other. Over the years, just things get rough and then they just end up not being friends anymore or whatever, which I've always found strange, but it just happens. But I'm sure you've heard this saying, a friend in need is a friend in deed. Who's ever heard that saying? It kind of sums this up a little bit. It's kind of tied to this verse a little bit. A friend in need is a friend in deed because being willing to help a friend in need is a sign of true friendship, isn't it? Because false, shallow, or fake friends don't act like friends at all when the friendship might cost them something. I'm sure you've had friends like that where you're like, when you really needed their help or you really needed something, I'm like, yeah, sorry, I can't do that. Yeah, sorry, I don't, you know. And sometimes people are just in the friendship to get what they can out of you and then when it comes time for you needing something from them, they're like, no. Those are fake friends. Those are people that are users. And there's one thing I've always strived to be in my life is a good friend. And I can't say that I've always accomplished that. Everybody fails in their friendships at some point. Everybody, I'm sure, sees things from a different point of view. They think that they're a good friend all the time, but sometimes you're just not a good friend. But your goal should be to be a good friend. If you're gonna be a friend, be a good friend. Don't gossip and backbite them and talk bad about them. And just let me tell you this, if someone's gossiping to you about somebody else, they're gossiping about you to somebody else. That's the truth. And that's something that I see a lot or I've seen a lot in my 49 years on this earth. But everyone fails to be a good friend at some point. But you know what? When you fail to be a good friend and you realize that you've done that, you actually have enough character to admit that you've been a bad friend, well, improve upon that. Be a better friend next time. Apologize to them. Say, hey, you know what? I know I wronged you, but I apologize and I'll try to be a better friend from now on. Because like I said, everybody has their moments or they're not a great friend. But being a good friend requires you to show yourself friendly, to actually do something that shows that you're a friend, to act on your friendship, to show someone that you're actually their friend. Well, how do you know that person's your friend? Well, they showed themself that they were at some point. So whether that's speaking in defense of them or helping them out financially or giving them wise counsel, giving them a ride someplace when they really needed to, letting them borrow your car or something, maybe not your car, but whatever it is. And don't let somebody borrow something or give them something that you aren't willing to lose forever because a lot of friendships are lost over things like that. Well, you said you were gonna pay me back. They never pay you back. I mean, co-signing for a friend, bad idea every time. Don't do that. Don't be surety for a friend. I'm pretty sure there's a proverb about that, too. It's just a dumb thing to do. Well, don't do it because you're gonna be paying that bill later on, trust me. And sometimes it's telling them the hard truth that they need to hear because a friend isn't just gonna tell you everything you want to hear. That's not a true friend. But then again, it's also not good for you to go and give people unsolicited advice. Every once in a while, it might not be a bad idea, especially if you think they're walking off a cliff of some sort, but in general, it's probably not good, especially when you're telling people how to raise their kids, interfering with their life to the point where you're just meddling. That's probably not good, things like that. But whatever it is, at some point, you should be a good friend. You should be showing yourself friendly. And if we're someone's friend, at some point, we just need to show it instead of just giving lip service. Oh, yeah, that's my friend. Well, when have you ever been a friend to him? Proverbs chapter 27, turn to Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27, verse six, the Bible says, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. What does that mean, faithful are the wounds of a friend? Well, just kind of like what I was saying, it's good to have friends that will be honest with us, and sometimes that honesty can wound us and make us feel bad, right? Because not everybody's willing to accept that they have flaws, or that something that they're thinking is flawed. And sometimes people lash out, like, look, don't ask someone for your opinion if you're not willing to take what their opinion is. And even if their opinion's wrong, because you might not agree with it, you can ask someone for their opinion, like, yeah, I don't know if I agree with that. That's fine, but to get mad at them for what their opinion is is kind of like, well, you asked them for their opinion. But if their opinion, their opinion also could be way over the top and like, well, that's what you really think about me? So be careful what you ask for because you might get the answer that you don't like. So there is that, too. But if you're asking your friend to be honest, be prepared for the honest answer. And a true friend is gonna give you an honest answer and you're like, what do you think about this? Well, give them the honest answer. You might even caveat with saying, are you sure you want my honest opinion? Because that could end a friendship. But at least you told them the truth about when they asked you or whatever. Because the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. And the enemy's just gonna tell you everything you wanna hear and flatter you. Oh, you're the best. You're the best friend I've ever had. Lie. At least they're gonna give you an honest opinion, though. If someone asks you and they give you the honest opinion, it's better than them lying to you, isn't it? But some people just want yes-men around them. Some people just want someone that's gonna lie to them and that's fine. If you practice the art of self-deception and you just want a bunch of people that are gonna tell you lies, well then fine, have people that are just gonna tell you lies all the time. If I'd rather have someone tell me the truth than tell me lies. And you should be careful being flattered and gifted into friendships. Because this is a way for people to gain access to your trust. Give them gifts, flatter them. This is how backbiting starts to happen. This is how tail-bearing starts to happen. And they're trying to gain access to your innermost secrets. Tell you something that, you know, share something about somebody in the church or somebody in your life. And then they got you over a barrel because they always have this over your head. Just like Joab had that David sent that death letter to have Uriah killed. So David could never act upon what he wanted to do to Joab because he was a murderer. And so then in the end he just had said, you know, don't let Joab go to his grave with his hoary head. Kill him. But he couldn't do it in his life even though he killed Amasa. And who else did he kill? He killed, he murdered two people. Amasa, Abner, yeah, thank you. Yeah, he killed Abner and Amasa. And Amasa was his, was David's uncle. I mean, yeah, so I mean, you just don't want to fall into that. So look at Proverbs 19 verse six. Proverbs 19 verse six. Proverbs 19 verse six says, many will entreat the favor of the prince and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. People like getting gifts, don't they? But don't be that guy that's just like, hey, they're giving me all these gifts. I really like them. I mean, it's hard not to, but I mean, when someone's just constantly flattering you and giving you all kinds of gifts, I mean, I'm not saying that that person's always a bad person or something, but the Bible's warning us about it here. Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. Just be weary of that. Proverbs 27 nine. Go ahead and turn back to Proverbs 27 nine. It says, ointment and perfume rejoice the heart. So doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. So it's good to have a friend that can give you some hearty counsel. There should be somebody in your life that you trust to give you the hearty counsel, the right counsel, the counsel that's worth having, and what's true is this. In your lifetime, there's probably just a few people that you can really count on as your true friends. I've been stabbed in the back by friends so many times I can't even count. People that I thought were my good friends in life and realized that they were not my friends. But that doesn't mean you should stop being friendly to people and that you should stop trusting people. You do need to put barriers in your life and borders and boundaries. You should learn from those things where you're just not telling everybody every secret you've ever had in your life or whatever, but don't stop being friendly. Don't stop being a good friend to people. It says, thine own friend and thy father's friend, verse 10, forsake not. Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. Hey, you wanna be a good friend? Well, don't forsake your friends. Just because someone forsook you doesn't mean you have to forsake them. Look, I don't judge how I'm friendly to somebody based upon how they were friendly to me. Just because they're not the same type of friend to me that I am to them doesn't mean that I'm gonna change the way I am. That's the difference between being a good friend and a bad friend. I thought Jesus said, do unto others as you would have them to do unto you. Not do unto others as they've done unto you. I mean, that is like one of the core tenets of New Testament Christianity, isn't it? So people are like, well, they wouldn't do that for you. Well, I'm not them. I'm gonna do what I have the principles and what the Bible says. How I should treat friends. Look, I wanna be a good friend to people. And you should try to be a good friend to people too and not just do unto others what they've done unto you. Isn't that what Samson did? Well, now I'm more justified to do what I wanna do to the Philistines. And that's just hit for hit, hit for hit. And every time they hit him, he hit them harder. And obviously the Philistines were wicked and it was put into his heart. I mean, Samson just did everything in the wrong way. He was doing the right thing the wrong way. So turn to, let's see, Proverbs 20, oh, look at verse 14. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. Figure that one out. Figure that one out. I'll tell you how I interpret this verse. Don't be annoying. Don't be annoying. Your friend's over at your house or you're at a friend's house and you rise up. Hi everybody, it's time to wake up. You're gonna get killed in my house if you do that. Especially before I've had a cup of coffee. I don't drink a lot of coffee, but before I've had the first one, our friendship is gonna be over. Our friendship won't be over, but that might be the last time you stay at the night at my house. I think that's just kind of what it's saying. Don't be annoying. If you're gonna be friendly, don't be annoying. There's etiquette and kuth, this thing called kuth. If you don't know what kuth means, just look it up. Proverbs 17, 17 says, a friend loveth at all times. Not just when it's convenient for you, not just when you feel like it, a friend loveth at all times. A true friend is gonna love you at all times and it says a brother is born for adversity. A friend loveth at all times. We should be that type of a friend. Proverbs 27, 17, I think you're already there in Proverbs 27, 17 says, iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. This is an interesting verse too. It's a really quoted verse, but think about what it means. It can mean a lot of different things. Proverbs have different layers and different meanings, but one meaning would be when friends are discussing things and talking over ideas, it can be helpful to figure out and to discuss things. Maybe your friends have different ideas than you do and if you just have your own personal echo chamber where you only think about the things that you think about are true, but when you discuss things with other friends, then those things, they can have different ideas that you never thought of before and those things can help you broaden your horizons a little bit. Maybe you're not right about everything or maybe you just never thought about this aspect of something and I like to bounce ideas off other people and learn things from other people and I think that's one way you can interpret this verse is that you're gonna get a lot of learning and broadening your horizons and your thought process by bouncing ideas off your friends, but when you apply it to scripture, you're thinking about iron sharpening iron, well the Bible is the word of God and it's likened unto a sword and swords are generally made out of iron, aren't they? And so when two friends are discussing the word of God, that sharpens our understanding of the scriptures because when you get a bunch of friends talking about the Bible, then you're like sharpening your ideas about the Bible and maybe you do have some kind of a strange doctrine that you've thought up or thought or believed something just different and maybe somebody else has something to add to that or something that'll broaden your horizon about that verse or maybe you never thought about this interpretation and those things help you and sharpen you to be a better Christian and have a better knowledge of the Bible. So it's good to have friends that will challenge your ideas about the Bible and I'm not saying like challenge ideas about salvation or challenge ideas about baptism or core doctrines but the Bible's a really deep book and it's good to get different perspectives from people, not from heretics, not from false teachers. I'm talking about saved people, saved brothers and sisters in Christ. It's good to sharpen from a friend, right? So and don't be a user friend. Don't be a user friend. Who is a user friend? Well Samson was a user friend. I won't have you turn there but it says in Judges 14, 20 it says, but Samson's wife was given to his companion whom he had used as his friend. See trying to accomplish things that God wanted him to accomplish but to use a friend, that came back to bite him. His wife got given to his friend, friend that he used. He used him and then his wife was given to him and then Samson got in a rage over that but I mean he was the one that used his friend. Don't be a user. Don't have a friendship with someone just so you can use them for what you can get out of them. It doesn't end up well. But there are people out there that are like that. I've had friends that are user friends. Who hasn't had a friend that was a user friend? I mean in reality. Proverbs chapter 22, turn to Proverbs 22 verse 24. The Bible says, make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go. Now if you're just around someone that's just always angry all the time, that's gonna rub off on you. And in reality this is just a good thing to think about that you should choose your friends carefully. And if someone is having a bad impact on your life in any type of a way, maybe you should just pull back from that friendship. If they're causing, because what's it saying? Lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul because they're gonna rub off on you. If that person's always angry all the time, they're always negative, their negativity's gonna rub off on you. Just like the Bible says, it warns you about being around scorners. Scorners are always just talking smack about people and judging people and just always causing problems with their mouth and then you're gonna be like that person hanging around them. The Bible says Amnon had a friend. We know that verse very well. Amnon was David's son and he ends up raping his own sister. But who gave him the advice? Well, David's brother's son, whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimei, David's brother and Jonadab was a very subtle man. He was so subtle that Amnon didn't catch it. He goes through unpunished as far as we know, but you know who probably punished him in the end? God did. David didn't realize that he was bad, though. There's never any indication that David knew that he was bad. But he was. He ended up helping get his own son killed. I mean, his son made the choice that he made. I mean, you're kind of a weirdo if you rape your own sister. I agree with that. But he was a very subtle man. You should choose your friends carefully, though. That's what I would learn out of that. And parents, don't be afraid to choose your children's friends. Choose wisely. If you see a problem with somebody that your children hang around with, you can remove your children from that person. You don't have to say why you're doing it or whatever. You can do things without causing a big drama scene. But those children, if they're influencing your children for wrong, then you have a responsibility to have that. If you have that gut feeling, trust that gut feeling. Don't just say, well, I don't know. They're so close or whatever. Trust your feeling. David didn't. And it cost his son his life. When Absalom ended up killing that son, even though that son, I feel like, kind of deserved it. But he did. He's like, why do you want to have all the sons for dinner or whatever? You can tell he didn't trust the situation. But yet he did it. He allowed it anyway. So trust your gut instincts on things. You're like, well, where's that in the Bible? Well, we have a conscience, don't we? God gave us that conscience. And I think that that feeling of intuition that you have sometimes, on these murder mystery shows sometimes, like these unsolved mystery-type documentaries that they have, it's like, and then they thought, maybe I shouldn't walk down that alley. It's like, maybe you should trust that intuition. It's dark. There's things people can hide behind. Yeah, don't walk through there. It's two o'clock in the morning. Trust your instincts. So, and there's, you know, let's see. Let's move down to, let's go to Job chapter 16. I kind of brought this up the other night about, don't be a miserable, comforting friend either. Don't be like Job's friends. Job's friends, you know, they came, they mourned with him for seven days. I mean, at first they were really noble in what they did. But then it's just chapter after chapter of them just accusing him of all this stuff. You know, he lost all of his children. He lost all of his wealth. I mean, his children all died on the same day. All ten of them. And like, the Bible's really clear that Job didn't do anything wrong. But then yet his friends are like, well, you had to have done something for all this bad stuff to happen to you. Look at Job 16.1. This is after Job's just getting raked over the coals by his friends. And it says, I've heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all. I mean, after going through the most horrendous things that he's ever gone through in his life, and really some of the worst things you have seen in the Bible that someone has gone through. And of course we know Satan touched his life because God allowed him to. He said just leave his life. His health is diminished. He's got boils from the bottom of his feet to the top of the crown of his head. He's scraping those boils with a potsherd. His wife has cursed him. Or said, curse God and die. I mean, so pretty much everybody's against him at this point. And then his friends that are supposed to come to comfort him are not comfort him. He says, miserable comforters are you all. And then he says, shall vain words have an end? Or what emboldeth thee that thou answerest? Like, you really have the boldness to sit here and accuse me like this? Also, I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you. He's saying if this happened to you, I could do the same thing to you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would assuage your grief. He's saying, I would not do this to you. If I was in the same situation, I would not do this to you. And then when God comes out of the whirlwind and asks him all these questions and stuff, at the end he says, everything that your friend said was wrong. Everything your friend said was wrong. And he said, I'm gonna have Job pray for you and make sacrifices for you and get things right for you. But God reproved them. So when people or men of God are going through trials, don't be like Job's friends. Don't be like Jesus' friends. What happened when Jesus got arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane? They all forsook him and fled. That's what happened. They all forsook him. They're like, oh, you don't want us to chop people's ears off? You don't want us to fight with the two swords you had us go by? See ya, they ran. Of course, this fulfilled the prophecy that smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Right? But they still fled nonetheless. Peter denied the Lord three times and had to be restored in the end of the book of John. You know, obviously people fail us and friends fail, but like, doesn't make it right, does it? Turn to 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4, verse 14. We should not forsake our friends in their time of need. Whether that be just any regular Christian friend or friend that you have or men of God that are doing the work of the Lord. Because the Apostle Paul, you can say, he received a lot of persecution and had a lot of people betray him. He tells this in 2 Timothy 4, verse 14. It says, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. So, whoever this guy is, he has his name stamped in the Bible forever as a person that did the Apostle Paul a lot of evil. It doesn't say what he did, but it says, of whom be thou where also? So not only did he do me much evil, but be careful because he's coming after you next. For he hath greatly withstood our words. So this guy's an enemy of godly men, godly preaching. You know, the words, what words are those? The words of God, right? At my first answer, no man stood with me. So whatever he's being accused, he's being accused of something by this guy, and it says, but all men forsook me. Well, didn't Paul have a lot of friends? Paul had a lot of friends, didn't he, that followed him and helped him and ministered with him? But he said, all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. But do you think, like this is recorded in the Bible, was Paul wrong? No he wasn't. But does it, so who was wrong? All of them that forsook him. All of them that didn't stand with him. But what did Paul say? I pray that it not be laid to their charge. They made a big mistake, but Paul still loves them and still wants them to be forgiven. It says, notwithstanding 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. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. So, his friends forsook him. That is first answer no man stood with me. I don't know if the second answer people did, but this is an example of Paul the apostle. I mean, he had to defend himself to the church that he founded in 2 Corinthians. He's like, I speak as a fool. And so, the apostle Paul here is like, hey, if you want to compare works, let's compare works. And then he just goes through everything he's went through, all the things he's had to go and endure because somebody's saying you're a fake apostle. You're not really an apostle. You're not really a servant of Christ. And then has to say, I speak as a fool because he doesn't want to brag about his works, but he's like, well, if I have to, I'm gonna do it. And so, that's why he says I speak as a fool because a fool is gonna talk about how great they are. That's why he says I speak as a fool, but he's not a fool, is he? And the last thing is don't be a friend to the world. Look at James chapter four, verse four. Because, you know, talking about friendships, we can be all kinds of, there's a lot of, I mean, obviously, you could preach just a whole sermon about this, but one thing we don't want to be is a friend to the world. The Bible says in James 4, four, it says, ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. The last thing you want to do is go, I mean, Paul says, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Why did Demas forsake him? Because he loved the world. He loved the things of the world. James says, hey, if you're a friend of the world, you're at enmity with God. You and God are in hostile terms again. Even if you're saved, God can still be your enemy. People don't realize this. Yeah, you're saved. You're like, oh, you guys just think that you can just get saved and you have to get out of jail free card? Yeah, get out of hell free card. Yeah, you do have that, but God can still make your world on this world very miserable, very hard, because if God's at enmity with you, that means he's your enemy. That's what it says. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. I don't want that classification, do you? I don't want to be the enemy of God. I want to be his friend. I want to be his family. I like the family reunions to be cool, right? I like the friendship to be the friendship that he's, we're good friends. We're not on talking terms. So, and then I'm just gonna touch on a couple things real quick and we'll be done here, but number three is God's family. How do we get into God's family? John 1 12 says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. How do you get into God's family? It's real easy. You just believe on him. And then you become a son of God. And does that mean there's no daughters of God? Of course that doesn't mean that. You are a daughter of God. If you're a female, you're your daughter of God. But there's only sons and daughters. There's no 66 other different kinds of genders. So, I believe that God's right because he's the one that made him, so. Of course in Ephesians, we're the household of God, of course in our text. Ephesians 3 15 says of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Galatians 6 verse 10 says we're the household of faith. And the Bible talks about us being the family of God. Number four, our spiritual family. Of course, our spiritual, it's good to have ties to our blood relations, but sometimes our blood relations betray us and hate us because of us being saved. And I talked a little bit about this before. I'm not saying that we should just chop our family out of our lives. But when they're harming you, that's when you have to at least put up boundaries. And in some radical cases, you might have to just cut them out of your life completely. And look, I'm not saying to just try to have this happen, but if people are turning you into CPS, that you love because you spank your children, then I would, this is just me. I'm not telling you what to do. You can do whatever you want. I would cut that person out of my life or at least have very strong boundaries going forward. Because they might seem like they have good intentions, but look, all you have to do is let your kids around someone unfettered. Grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, cousin, whatever, and they can turn your children against you just like that. Oh, when you turn 18, don't worry. You can just get away from all these stuff. Planting seeds. You think that can happen? I've seen it happen. People have tried to do that in our home, at other churches. So I know it happens. I've had, we've had to like, never mind. I don't even want to tell the story because it's just personal, but we've had this kind of stuff happen to us. So to think that this doesn't happen, it's just, people don't believe in spankings at all. My grandma used to cry when I spanked Remi. She would just start crying. I'm like, you shouldn't do that. She never turned me into CPS though, but I would try not to spank him in front of her because she gets so upset, but she, you know, but I watched her hit her own daughter with a hairbrush, so like, she deserved it of course, but she was messing with, you know, the number one grandson, so, but like, you know, I don't know, just the older you get, the softer you get, I guess it is, and stuff like that, but look, I mean, I love my grandma, but she was wrong about that, but I would just tell her, you know, this is just how it is, you know. I'm not saying cut your family out of your life because they let your kid watch TV one time when you had them over, but just be careful. Look, that relationship is not as important as your immediate family. It's just not. Is it worth losing your children over? Don't let people guilt you into making a separation, into not having a separation, and if people will not listen to your rules or respect your boundaries, then you have to just say, well, if you're not gonna do that, then I'm done with you, and then they will come around, but then that's something that you have to watch because the moment you leave them alone with them, they're gonna be in their ear saying all kinds of stuff, and look, I'm not just saying that for any specific reason other than the fact that families will cut you out of their life because of what you believe, but then they'll also hang around just because they wanna influence your children. It's a fact, folks. It is a fact. So don't be thinking that you're the exception to the rule because this happens, and that's why Jesus said that, you know, well, let's turn to one last verse here. I had more stuff, but I wanted it to be done now. Let's see. Turn to Matthew chapter 19. I'm gonna read Matthew chapter 12 real quick while you're getting there. He said, while you talk to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. Stood without. His mother and his brethren stood without. Jesus is preaching their without. So a lot of your family, they don't wanna get down with what you're down with, and then they act like you're the one separating from them. No, they don't wanna come in with you, and then you're expected to just go out there, and Jesus said, and it said, then one of them said, behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. Well, come on in then. Why don't you come here? Why don't you get down with our program? He's the one that's the Lord. They're like, no, you come here. No, you come to our party. You come to our house. You come to our church. You do our functions. But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother and who are my brethren? That's his literal mom. His literal brothers and sisters outside, and he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren. The ones that are with him. The ones that are on the same mission. The ones that are in church with him. The one he's preaching to at that time. That's who he's pointing to. This is the Lord speaking. Think about this. For whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. So when it comes to God's family and our family, what is he saying here? He's saying hey, if they're not with you and they're without, don't forsake what you're doing to go without to them. Isn't it? Because he's saying who's truly my spiritual family? Who's my spiritual mother? Who's my spiritual brethren? They're here. Look, I'm not saying to forsake your earthly family. I'm just saying that don't stop what you're doing here to go and continue that relationship. Let them come here. Don't compromise. I had to turn to Matthew chapter 19. Look at what it says in verse 27. Then answered Peter and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you that he which have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, he also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, and every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or fathers or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. And it's like well why is he saying that? Because the division was made. That's why. Because Christ is more important than anything that he just listed right there. Anything he just listed right there. If all those things turn against you, if all those things have to be forsaken for the cause of Christ, then he's saying I'm more important. That's what he's saying. And that's a hard pill to swallow, isn't it? I don't want to have to do that. But there's people in my family that have forsaken me completely and you know what? I'm going to stay where I'm at. I'm going to stay in church. I'm going to stay serving God till the day I die. And nobody's going to call me from without and say hey, aren't you getting a little radical in there? No, I'm just reading the Bible. Last verse says, but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. Hey, you know what? I want to follow Jesus. You know what? It's friends and family weekend. It's friends and family day. I have a friend in Jesus, and even if nobody ever liked me, if I never had a friend for the rest of my life, even if all my friends forsake me, all my family forsakes me, you know what? I have a friend in Jesus and he promised he'll never forsake me. He'll never leave me. He's mine and I am his. And sometimes your friends are going to forsake you. Sometimes your family is going to forsake you, but Jesus will never do that. And he's going to strengthen you like he strengthened Paul. He's going to strengthen us the same way he did Paul, but if we love other things more than we love him, we're not worthy of him. That's what he said, right? So we always have Jesus. The great thing about being in God's family, he's never going to kick us out. Ever. We're always going to be his friend following his commandments, fearing him, and if we love him, we'll keep his commandments. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this great family we have here and this great friendship we have at this church. We thank you for all the people who have come here today. We pray that you just bless the soul winning today. Bless the second sermon. We pray that you would just bless all aspects of fellowship in your house today, Lord. We thank you for being our friend, sending your son Jesus to die for us. We thank you for allowing us to be in your house and in your household. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, for our last song we'll be doing a psalm. Psalm 81. You guys can turn there in your Bible, or you can go to the psalm folder in the seat in front of you. Psalm 81. Let's sing it together on the first. A trumpet in the new moon In the time appointed on our solemn feast day For this was a statute for Israel And the law of the God of Jacob This he ordained in Joseph For a testimony when he went down Through the land of Egypt Where I heard a language that I understood not I removed his shoulder from the burden His hands were delivered from the pots Thou caused in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder I proved thee at the waters of Meribah See, Laher, O my people And I will testify unto thee O Israel, thou wilt hearken unto me There shall no strange God be in thee And neither shalt thou worship any strange God I am the Lord thy God Which brought me out of the land of Egypt Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it But my people would not hearken to my voice And Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust And they walked in their own counsels O that my people had hearkened unto me And Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their enemies And turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted Should have submitted themselves unto him But their time should have endured forever He should have fed them also With the finest of the wheat and with honey Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee Amen