Friendships

like you turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 18 Proverbs chapter 18 we've been doing a series called broken and in that series last week we talked about Samson and one of the comments that I made in that message was besides the fact that there was three uh things that we need to be careful up with the Sansom syndrome and those three things where I can handle it I'm Different it won't happen to me uh those are the three worst things that you can think and that's what happened to Samuel and so I want to challenge you to remember those three statements I I can handle it I different it won't happen to me but there was also another point that I made in that message about the fact that uh Samuel

uh or I'm sorry I'm saying Sam Samson uh let's get back to the right person Samson uh had a situation came up and and uh where he was getting married and then uh because of conflict he had to run away and and the Bible says that they gave his wife to His companion who he had used as his friend and I made a comment about and that message about the how we need to have friends in our lives as Christians and one I think one of the reasons that Samson struggled so much is because he never had any real friendships and uh we got since then I've got a number of comments and questions about that to myself and to other people also and so I thought I'd take kind of a break from our list in Hebrews

chapter 11 and just go back and talk about friendships a little bit more and how we can find those right kind of friendships that will help us to be the right kind of person as well in Proverbs chapter 8 18 and verse number 24 uh the Bible tells us Proverbs 18:24 a man that hath friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend that sticking closer than a brother and so if we want to have friends we've got to show ourselves friendly now I will also tell you that the message I'm going to preach this morning is one uh that I used not too long back uh but I've redone it reworked it up to bring it this morning because I felt like it was just so important to help us to understand how to

have friends and this message really kind of covers that as well so some of the points that I make or maybe some of the illustrations will be familiar to you but I hope it'll be fresh and new and that you'll take it in that way as well now we talk about having friends everybody wants to have friends and there are some people that are just more naturally friendly and some people that that just more naturally attract people to them and make friends easier than others do I will tell you that I am I believe a friendly person but I have trouble making friends you know to really have those deeper relationship ship and uh that's something that I struggle with and maybe something you struggle with

as well and so what kind of friends do we want to have I I think the first example in the Bible of friendships is Jonathan and David in 1st Samuel chapter 18 and verse number one the Bible says and it came to pass when he had made an end to speaking onto Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul uh we sometimes will call this today soulmates you ever had a a soul mate you ever had a a a best friend uh some people called them kindred spirit you know that that person that just you click with on every level and and you're you're you're almost sometimes feel like you're one person you you you share each other's thoughts you you share

each other's interest you just uh uh finish each other's jokes all the rest of that kind of stuff and just there's a there's a connection there that is just unique and special and if You' ever had a friend like that you understand what I'm talking about uh I have I have had a few friends like that over my life my my first one was a guy named Max and Max and I were best friends in first grade and um and we just were inseparable we did everything together at recess after school before school whatever we were always together doing everything together well my Dad decided it was time for our family to move and so I had to leave that that community and uh of course it was all around school that I

was leaving this my last day of school and and there was a little girl in that classroom that that that loved me and and uh she just infatuated with me and so she decided that before I left school she was going to get a kiss from me now at being a self-respecting first grader I decided that that was not going to happen and she decided it was going to happen if you remember first grade girls are usually bigger than the boys in first grade and uh and so I was the whole day long I was scared to death I I try I avoided her every class I I tried to sit in the off side of the room I was the first one outside the door going next class I I hid on recess I I mean we were and and and Max was there

help me the whole time and uh finally the last hour came the bell rang to leave school and I was heading out and uh somehow she kind of got a head start and she was out there waiting for me and so now it was down to a race who is going to be faster getting to their bus who was going to be faster getting out of the school campus and and I was running and again uh she was a little bigger than me and a little stronger than me at that point time and and so she was catching up to me and and I was I was worried I I thought this is it my life is over I'm going to get a kiss and I'll die of germs you know and um I was just panicking until my best friend Max he threw himself in front of her and

blocked her and knocked her over so I could get away and that's a best friend he's he gave his own body for me he gave himself to save me from that terrible kiss now when I was in high school I'd have killed him for doing something like that but that's a whole different story right uh but you know you got that best friend that person will do anything for you that person that will give them El for you that that person that your souls are knit together and that's a great kind of relationship to have but those are few and far between in life are they not uh I think most of us would have to say that in my lifetime I've only had maybe two or three best friends uh if that many and uh you don't

always have them everywhere you go in every place you are in life uh friends you know are a reflection of you the Bible says in Proverbs 27: 19 as in water face anth face so the heart of a man to man you see when you look at the water the reflection of your face in the water you see yourself and when you have a relationship with somebody as a best friend they're are really a reflection of who you are that's why you knit together because there's so many things that that you share and even the things that are different uh you strengthen one another with in in fact the Bible talks about in Exodus chapter 33 and verse number 11 and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto

his friends uh you know wouldn't it be great to have that kind of relationship with God to to have God as your best friend let me say this there let me say this that that sometimes God will not bring a best friend into your life because he wants to be your best friend and until he becomes your best friend you're never going to find that best friend here in this earth and so sometimes we if we don't have a best friend maybe it's for us to stop and say is is God my best friend am I face Toof face with God heart-to- heart with with the Lord do I speak unto him as a friend God needs to be our best friend now a best friend uh has a sacrificial servants love there is a friend that sticketh closer

to the brother and and a friend that is willing to give himself for us the Bible says in 1st Samuel chapter 20 and verse number 17 and Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him for he loved him as he loved his own soul and then in verse number 31 this is as his father talking for as long as the son of Jesse David liveth upon the ground Thou shalt not be established nor thy kingdom wherefore now send and fetch him unto me for he sh for he shall surely die you see Jonathan was the son of the king and David was just a Shepherd boy but have been prophesied by God to become the king and and Solomon Saul Jonathan's dad knew that and so he said to Jonathan Jonathan as long as David

is alive you'll never be king but see Jonathan didn't care about that he didn't care about himself as much as he cared about David uh he was given himself sacrificially if David stayed alive then David would become the king and he would lose all of that power and he would lose all of that opportunity in life and he would become less than the king and and and but Jonathan understood that because he understood to be a friend sometimes you got to sacrifice to be a friend you got to be willing to be the servant and not the person in charge all the time uh this is the kind of friendship more about what you can give and not what you can get I I'm going to tell you you're not going to find the

right kind of friends in life until you start giving more than you want to get see friendship is not about what I can get from the other person friendship is about what I can give to the other person and the more I give to the other person the more I'm going to get from that relationship as well see this kind of friendship is a transcending love uh go over to Romans chap 12 Romans chap 12 and look at verse verse number 16 see with Jonathan David a a prince Jonathan loved a Shepherd David see he had a friendship with him he didn't care about their status in life he didn't care about how much money he had he didn't care about all those other things it was about the relationship the friendship

in Romans chap 12 and verse number 16 it says be of the same mind one towards another mind not high things but condescend to Men of low estate be not wise in your own conceits so sometimes we look down on people and we think well that person can never be my friend because of this reason or because of that reason whatever it might be and we got to be careful that sometimes your best friends are going to be very different from you and sometimes your best friends are going to have they're going to have Lifestyles or things that they're going to do that's different than you if you look back in that same chapter look at verses 9 and 10 it says let love be without dissimulation that word means

hypocrisy uphor that which is evil cleave to that which is good be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another that's how you develop the right kind of relationships you have this unconditional love the the Bible uses three different words for Love In this passage and one of them is the is the word from John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son in Romans 5'8 it says but God commended or showed his love towards us that why we yet sinners that's the kind of sacrificial giving love that is based upon the character of the one doing the loving and has nothing to do with the one being Lov you see a lot of times we look at

somebody we love them and and we count them as a friend because of something that they do that makes us love them but God says we ought to love them with an unconditional sacrificial love but it also uses another word for love which is the the word for family Lov and and and to love them like a brother to love them like a sister like they're part of your family and then there's a third word that's used which is the fetal love which means a a a um responsive love and and and and we will find things that that that we like about that person things that we respond to we we enjoy the same things or or we have uh uh we we like to talk or whatever else it might be and and it's a it's a love that

transcends uh the the place in life that we're at go over to Philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 and verses 1-8 Philippians chapter 2 and beginning with verse number one it says if there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any Fellowship the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill you my joy that you be likeminded having the same love being of one Accord of one mind let nothing be done through Strife or vain Glory but in loneliness of Mind Let each esteem other better than themselves look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought

it not robbery to be equal God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant was made in the likeness sub men and being found in the fashion as man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross see that's the kind of friend that we ought to be one that is sacrificing one that is becoming a servant to the other person one that is giving of myself rather than taking you see Samson he used his friend that meant he just took and took and took and never gave into that relationship and so many of us that's the way we see friendship is what can you give to me but real friendship is what can I give to you what can I do for you you see this

kind of friendship is unique and special go back to 1 Samuel first Samuel chapter chapter 1 go to 1st Samuel chapter 1 if you have any trouble finding 1 Samuel it's right before 2 Samuel and then right before 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles get all those first and seconds together and 1st Samuel chapter 1 and look at verse number 26 1st Samuel chapter 1 and verse number 26 the Bible ible says and she said oh my Lord as thy oul liveth my Lord I that's let's see I get the right place here SEC a second Samuel all right I got the wrong reference there 2 Samuel chapter 1 and verse number 26 sorry about that 2 Samuel 1:26 I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou

been unto me thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of woman you see we're afraid of close friendships sometimes especially men struggle with this and and David was not saying that there was something wrong in their relationship with that we would see in the world today but what Dave was saying is this is somebody that I'm close to this is somebody that I'm comfortable with somebody that can be transparent and open with this is somebody that that I could be personal with and and that's the kind of relationships that we need to look for and and we're so afraid of this that somebody might get to know me somebody might see me for who I really am some somebody might see the wickedness

inside of me or this the weakness inside of me or the fears inside of me but that's what real friendship is it's not being afraid of those things it's realized that I need that kind of friend in my life in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 22 it says seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fently see God wants us to have a pure love the right kind of love and and and that love transcends so many other things and that's a love that we can develop with other people and and where they can be uh able to influence our lives and help us in our walk with the Lord see it's a it's

a Selfless Love not a selfish love we look at 1st Samuel chapter 18 1st Samuel chapter 18 and verses 2- 4 1st Samuel chapter 18 beginning with verse number two and Saul took him that day and would would let him go no more home to his father's house then Jonathan David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle now Jonathan David and Saul had a relationship as well but Saul used David he he didn't love him as a friend he used David and and but Jonathan loved David as his own soul and so often in our relationships the reason the

relationship fail is because we use that other person and we squeeze the life out of that relationship I remember when I was a kid and I've been trying to figure out the name of this cartoon but there was a cartoon on TV when I was a child it was a it was if I remember right was a big old St Bernard dog had a a a little chipmunk friend and uh they were best of buddies but the problem was that St Bernard dog was always crushing that little chipmunk sometimes he sit on on him sometimes you step on him and a lot of times what you do is you take that chipmunk and and give him a big hug and squeeze him really hard and then he would come out you know the cartoon flat how they make the cartoon

characters all flat he would come out flat like that and he would squeeze them to death he squeeze that relationship so hard he squeezed the life out of that chipmunk and that's what happens with many friendships is that we we squeeze that friendship so tight because we're being selfish Saul wanted David to himself and and and and and they squeeze the the life out of that relationship but Jonathan understood that that's not how it works it's not selfishness it's selflessness giving of myself rather than taking from the relationship all the time you see the the in judges 1420 we looked at last week but Samson's wife was given to His companion whom he had used as his friend and so often we use

our friends we we abuse our friendships we take advantage of our friends now a good friend is going to be there there when you need them and a good friend is going to be there to help you when things are tough in your life but we don't want to use people we want to we don't want to abuse people we want to have the right kind of friendships you know so many friendships are are fair weather friends in Proverbs chapter 17 and verse number 17 a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born to adversity you know there's there's come people that that no matter what happens they're going to be there for you but there's other people when things are going tough uh they kind to disappear on you

isn't that right when you when you need too much help and when things are not going right when you're struggling uh they're not there for you because they just don't want to deal with the problem but we need the kind of friends that are going to stick with you no matter what and that's the kind of friend that you and I need to be we need to encourage one another in 1 Samuel chapter 23 turn over there 1st Samuel chapter 23 and look at verse number 16 it says and Jonathan Saul's son arose and went to David Avid into the wood and strengthened his hand in God David was at one of the lowest points of his life he was I think about ready to give up he just couldn't handle it anymore on his own and

Jonathan heard about it and he went to David and he strengthened his hand in the Lord then I want you to compare that to to um 1 Samuel uh Chapter 30 1st Samuel chapter 30 and I want you to look at verse number 6 now between chapter 23 and Chapter 30 Jonathan was killed in battle he died and and so he's no longer around it's it's tough when you lose a friend there are some of you in the military that back in your previous Duty station you had a very close a very dear friend a best friend and then you got transferred to a new place and all of a sudden now you have no friends or and you don't have anybody like that it's tough when you lose a friend for whatever reason and and Jonathan was gone

now and David was at another low point of his life and he was about ready again to give up and to quit and look what it says in in 1st Samuel chapter 3 30 in verse number six it says David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and for his daughters but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God in the Hebrew language that's almost exact wording we read back in 1st Samuel chapter 23 and I really believe because because Jonathan had been able to courage David in 1st Samuel 23 that he'd been there for David then that later on when Jonathan was gone David was able to encourage himself and I believe at

that time I believe he was probably remember back well you know if Jonathan would here this is what he would say and if Jonathan here this is what he would do and and and and I don't need Jonathan because I've got the Lord I I miss Jonathan but the Lord is there for me he was able to encourage himself in the Lord and that's the kind of friends that you need people that are going to encourage you in Deuteronomy chapter 13 and verse number six it says If thy brother the son of thy mother or thy son or thy daughter or thy wife or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul entic the secretly saying let us go and serve other gods which thou has not known th th thou nor thy

fathers you see he said listen if some friend of yours no matter how close you are to them if they're going to influence you to do wrong that's not the kind of friends that you want to have and maybe there's some of you in this room that that's where your problem is you need a good you need good friends but the problem is you've got bad friends and those are the friends that entice you and say you know why are you going to church s to you why don't you go out to the bar with us on Saturday night why don't you go do this and go do that and and they're going to entice you in the wrong ways instead of to follow the lord you want friends that are going to encourage you to do what's right you

want friends that going to encourage you to follow the lord you don't want to have a friend that's going to tell you just leave your husband just leave your wife uh that's not the kind of friends you want to have you want to have somebody that's going to be there for you and help you through those difficult times encourage you in the Lord you see it's hard to stand alone go over to ecclesiast ases The Book of Ecclesiastes right after Proverbs is the Book of Ecclesiastes and chapter chapter 4 and verses 9-2 Ecclesiastes chapter 4 and beginning with verse number nine it says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall the one will lift up this

fellow but woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up again if two lie together then they they have heat but how can one be warm alone and if one Prevail against him to shall withstand him and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken it it's hard to stand alone there's strength in numbers and when you have somebody that can stand with you and especially when the Lord is in that relationship when it's you and your friend and the Lord together you're going to be strengthened the Lord and that's the kind of friends that you need to have you need to have friends that are going to hold you accountable in Hebrews chapter 10 it it talks about to provoke one

another on to love and good works uh you know uh Jonathan and David's Soul the Bible says were knit together you know one thing about knitting needles uh I don't always understand the difference between crochet and knitting except that the knitting needles got a sharper Point uh they can be I can be poked with those you know and and and a good friend is somebody that's willing to poke you a little bit to provoke you on to love and good works to ask you the tough questions how are you treating your spouse how are you treating your kids to ask you why weren't you in church on Sunday are you reading your Bible how's the struggle going with your temper what about watching point if you've been

looking at porn see they're they're going to provoke you onto love and good works they're going to provoke you to do what's right and that's the kind of friends that we need to have friends that will pray for us in James chapter 5 and verse 16 confess your faults one to another and pray one for another for the effectual fervant prayer of a righteous man Avail with much is there someone in your life that is praying for you specifically and and not just praying for you generically but specifically they know what to pray for they know what you struggle with they know what you're dealing with and they can pray very specifically for you because they know you and they know your struggles in your

life a friend to be there for counsel the Bible talks about having counsel in Proverbs chapter 27 Proverbs chapter 27 and verse number 17 Bible says iron sharpeneth iron a man sharp the count as of friend you need a friend is is is the kind of person that's going to make you sharper that's going to make you better that's going to challenge you to think not just agree with you but to really challenge you to think through what you believe and why and think through what you're doing and why you're doing it look at verse number uh chapter 27 verse number 6 it says faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful look at verse number nine ointment perfume Rejoice the

heart so do the sweetness of a man's Friend by hearty counsel you see you need friends that are going to challenge you that are going to tell you what you don't always want to hear that are going to speak the truth in love but tell you in love you ought not to be doing this and you need to change this or fix this and they're going to challenge you you need a friend that's going to teach you good manners in 1 Corinthians chapter 15:33 it says be not deceived uh evil Communications corrupt good manners I want to be around people that make me better that make me better well I want I want friends that are going to lay a hold of me in Mark chap 3: 21 it says and when his friends heard of it they

went out to lay hold on him for they said he is beside himself now they were wrong they thought there was something wrong with Jesus but they cared enough about him that they when they saw what he was doing they said hey there's we we're concerned for you and you need a friend that's willing to do that I had a pastor years ago that I worked under when I was in Bible College his name was Gil sedon and Gil SED had a birth mark right here in his cheek a great big round brown birth mark and what it looked like it looked like a spot of dirt it looked like he got dirt on his face and he said he always knew the people he wanted for friends when he'd meet them because everybody could see you could

not miss this birth mark and if you did not know him you would believe it was dirt that there was no question on that so he'd meet people and you he could see their eyes going looking over at the dirt Mark and he said some of them wouldn't say a word he said I don't want those as friends others of them would say um you have right here on you have some dirt on your cheek and they would do it he said even a few people he said he had one old lady when he met her the first time she saw the the birth mark she took out her her handkerchief she licked it and she started wiping on his cheek and he said he said I wanted her as a friend because see she's willing to tell me the truth in love she's not

going to let me walk around looking stupid she's not going to let me walk around doing the wrong thing and that's the kind of friends that we need to have in our lives we we need to make a commitment and in Proverbs 18:20 a man that has friends must show himself friendly and Psalms 27:10 it says thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not neither go into thy brother's house in the day of Calamity for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off you see if you want to have friends you've got to show yourself friendly I've said this many times if you're the last one to get here to church and you're the first one to leave all the time and you don't come to other services

you're not going to make friends that's not how you make friends you got to stick around you got to talk to people you got to greet people you got to get to know people you got to shake hands and ask ask questions and and and just develop that relationship and and doing that and once you have those friends you've got to be there for them you can't just show up now and then when you feel like it you've got to develop those relationships to be a friend you've got to make a commitment you remember when you're kids how you used to do the Blood Brother thing you remember when I talk about when you would say you know we're we're Blood Brothers and you get a knife out like this and you'd say uh you

know let's let's cut our hands and put them together Evan come on up here we're going to become blood Brothers here if you I'm going to have Evan come up here and we're going to cut her hands we're going to demonstrate this for you real good here so here we go Evan let's go ahead and do that here and uh if we can get that you got it all right there we go all right good there we go and all right see all right now we're Blood Brothers I'm GNA let him cut his hand I'm not going to cut my hand U but anyway now he's got ketchup on him is what it is all right but the point is we need those kind of relationships my wife and I the other night watched the the the newer version of Little Rascals how

many Remember The Little Rascals anybody here remember those they were great when I was growing up and they've got a newer one out and they did a pretty good job with it you know and that's the kind of friends you know that there's a commitment there there's a specialness there's a bond there and even when things don't always go the way you want it to between alphaalpha and Spanky you know and all the rest of that they're still friends they work through those things see the right kind of relationship is based upon our relationship with God in 1st Samuel 20: 42 and Jonathan said to to David go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord saying the Lord be between

me and thee and between my seed and thy seed forever and he rose and departed and Jonathan went into the city Jonathan said David this is not just in our lifetime this is it's for our generations to come we want this kind of relationship to continue and after Jonathan died when David became king he sought out Jonathan's son who was who was handicapped and he took care of him because that's the commitment you make you see it's a it's a commitment it's based upon our relationship with God it's build we build relationship in the Lord and in his word look at Psalms 119 Psalms 119 and verse number 63 Psalms 1119 and verse number 63 the Bible says I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of

them that keep thy precepts we want to have a relationship with those that love God and love his word best friend relationships are rare and they're often just once in a lifetime in in Psalms chapter 88 Psalms chapter 88 verse number 18 the Bible says lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance Into Darkness the psalmist said listen God I don't have a friend right now and that's the point where God wants us to be his friend sometimes we don't have a friend by choice and sometimes there's just nobody there there's just not a person I found where I'm at but we can find our friendship with God because he will never fail look at Psalms chapter 55 Psalms chapter 55 verses

12-4 for it was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it neither was it uh he that hated me that did magnify himself against me then I would have hid myself from him but it was thou oh man mine equal my guide my acquaintance we took sweet counsel together and walked under the house of God in company he said here's a guy that I counted as my friend and he failed me and folks friends will fail you even sometimes your best friend but God will never fail us in Psalms chapter 41 and verse number n Psalms 41 verse number n yay my own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat my bread hath lifted up his head his heel against me and then skip down to verse 10 but thou oh Lord

be merciful unto him and raise me up that I may requite the them he said listen my friend failed me but God you will never fail me and that's what we need to remember is God will never fail us as our friend and folks sometimes in life if you don't have a best friend and sometimes you don't have that because God wants to be your best friend and sometimes it's just finding that right person is difficult and there may not be there one there like that then make a what I call a Frankenstein friend and a Frankenstein friend remember Frankenstein he was made from body parts from all different people so this you know best friend you could do everything with well Frankenstein friend is this person

over here we have fun together this guy we play sports with and this is one over here I can talk to and you put them together and find within three or four or five people to find your best friend and sometimes that's what we have to do but again a man that hath friends must show himself friendly so be the kind of friend that people are glad to have around in 2 Timothy chapter 1 in verses 16-8 it says the Lord give Mercy on the house of anus for he off refresh me anus was a former slave Paul was in prison and he would he sought Paul out and did everything he could to be a blessing off refresh him I I love that phrase I hope people can say that about me I hope that when I'm around I'm

refreshing you know some people are blessing when they walk into the room and some people are blessing when they walk out of the room is that not true which one are you see are you the kind of first person that refreshes others to be around that encourages others Proverbs chapter 25 it talks about like good news from a far country is like a cup of cold water on a hot day you know just to be refreshing in Romans 12:1 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep somebody that will laugh with you when things are going good and somebody that will cry with you when things are going bad just somebody that can be there when you're going through those difficult times the best

news is the news of the Gospel the news of Jesus Christ as our savior and we need to share that with others in Mark chapter 9 verse 41 it says for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink it in my name because you belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward you know folks we need to be real Christians an unsaved person can do a random act of Love they can go out and give somebody a cup of cold water or do something else for them and be a blessing but it takes a Christian to make it real a random Evangelistic Act of love to do it in the name of Jesus so that I can be a friend to you so I can introduce you to my best friend Jesus Christ and that's what we need

to do as Christians so what does my friend need from me in Romans 12:13 it says distributed the cessity of saints give to hospitality you want to find friends at Ohana Baptist Church start giving yourself to others and when you start giving yourself how can I be a blessing here's a single mom that I can help with their kids here's a a lady who husband's TDY that I can take go out shopping with or here's some family that's new on the island I can invite into my home when you start looking around for being a blessing to others I'll guarantee you that's when you're going to find the blessing for you you've got to give of yourself You' got to seek not your own but the things of others want you

to do an experiment with me right now I want you to take a deep breath and hold it everybody take a deep breath and hold it for as long as you can now just keep holding it while I'm talking along here see how long you can do that for it see when the Bible says that love seeketh not her own it's like the breath inside of you you get to a point where you say you know what I can't do this any longer some of you are trying I could see that in your face but there's going to come a point that your body's going to say you need air now and that's what we need to have that same attitude towards others I need to give myself not for me but to give breath to others to be a blessing to others the Bible

talks about an esus how UNM by the way if you're not breathing yet please breathe okay don't pass out on me he says how many things he ministered unto me onus found Paul he said what can I do for you not what can you do for me but what can I do for you and that's the way you become a blessing to others be profitable bear one of's burdens it says in Galatians chapter 6 there's one other example in the Bible I want to mention as we close and that's Abraham in James 2:23 it says the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and was imputed unto him for righteousness he was called the friend of God see friendship is not earned it's given if I have to earn your friendship it's not

a friendship friendship is something we give to each other and God said I want you to be my friend for God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son in John chapter 15 he calls us his friends do you have the greatest friend Jesus Christ do you have him as your savior in John chapter 15 verse number 13 the Bible says greater love hath no man than this that a man layeth down his life for his friends Jesus gave his life for you his friend so that you could have eternal life in Genesis 15:18 it says in the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and you need to make a covenant with God it's called The Covenant of Salvation in Romans chapter 10 veres 9 and 10 it says that if Thou shalt

confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has raised the dead Thou shalt be saved for with a heart man believeth onto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made on salvation in Romans 10:13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved have you called upon your best friend have you called Upon Jesus Christ because he wants to be your friend he wants to be your savior but you have to make that decision I remember one time somebody at College told somebody else that I was his best friend and I when I heard that I said I am I didn't know that you see if you want somebody to be your friend you got to ask him and Jesus asked you

to be his friend but you've got to accept his offer of Salvation you've accept Jesus Christ Acts chapter 20:35 says I've showed you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak remember the words of the Lord Jesus how is more blessed to give than to receive folks I want to challenge you do you need a friend a man that have friends but show him so friendly you got to put yourself out there you got to start greeing people so I I I don't do well with that I'm not a good talker there's about a half a dozen basic questions that can keep you talking for five minutes and if you haven't kind of clicked by then maybe go on next one you say well if I have people over my host one of

the things I've always found when I when I having somebody new is have somebody already know if I'm inviting somebody new over I always invite the talkers over because they'll talk so I could buy somebody like the blessley because they're good talkers or I could buy somebody like the Ramirez because Miranda can talk to anybody and uh I can invite them over and that fixes my problem folks but a man that would have friends must show himself friendly and your best friend is Jesus Christ but you need to ask him to come into your heart and life and to be your friend because he's already asked you to be his friend and as a Christian if God hasn't brought someone in your life to be that friend that you're needing right now then say God I want you to be that friend I want to grow closer to you I want to be the friend of God and develop that relationship and grow that relationship with him and I believe as you do that then God will bring people into your life to be your friends