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All right, let's take our Bibles and turn to Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter number 3. Should I put the axe back in place? I don't know how to install it. Figure it out. There you go, right there. There you go. All right. You got it. I don't want to lose that cutting edge, you know? Malachi chapter number 3. And we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. And you can follow along silently. Malachi chapter 3. The Bible reads, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delighted. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appear? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right. And fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings ye are cursed with a curse. For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your volume cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. Your words have been very, have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy. Yea, they that work wickedness are set up. Yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. Let's bow our heads forward. Father, please just bless the preaching now, and fill me with your Holy Spirit, dear God. Help every single person who's here to listen carefully and to be filled with the Spirit, dear God. Help us to put aside anything else that's in our mind right now so we can focus upon your word and the preaching, dear God. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. Now the part of the chapter that I want to preach from is beginning in verse 16, when the Bible says, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. Look at the last verse of the chapter. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Now what I want to preach about tonight is about your friends, about having the right friends. And not only that, but a lot of the friends that you think that you have, they're not really your friends. They don't really love you. And those aren't really the friends that you should be speaking off of with. And that's what I want to preach about tonight. You would turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. And while you're turning there, let me read some verse for you about friendship. You say, well, why is it so important who my friends are? Or do I really even need to have friends? Well, yes, you do, because the Bible says that Ecclesiastes 4, two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his 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 have heat. But how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not easily broken. How can one be warm alone? You get alone by yourself. You're away from church. You're away from other believers. You're away from people who are on fire for God. You could get cold. And God says, look, when you get lukewarm, or if you get to the point where you're going to fall and you're going to quit, it's good to have somebody there to pick you up. It's good to have somebody there to lean upon as the right kind of friend that's going to build you up. It says in Proverbs chapter 27, it says, iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. But it says in 2 Corinthians 6, where you are, in verse 14, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what conquerth hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Now what does that say? That's telling us right here, not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. He said, you don't have fellowship with unbelievers. What is fellowship? It means something in common, something that both of us share. The Bible says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It says, the whole manner of love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. We're not of the world. Hey, they're of the world. Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that is of God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You see, we're different. We're not like the people in this world. We're God's children. And we're to be separate from unbelievers. Now does that mean that we're never supposed to reach out to unbelievers? Of course, Jesus sat down and ate with, with unbelievers and sinners, and he reached out to them. But you want to know who I'm going to speak often with? God said those that feared the Lord spake often one with another. He said that iron sharpens iron. He said that we should be yoked together, teamed up with, that's what yoked together means, teamed up with believers, teamed up with people who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ like we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Your friends, your buddies, your pals that you're speaking often with, they ought to be saved, first of all, number one. They ought to be saved. And let me just break something to you. Not everybody around here that calls themselves a Christian is really saved. You know, especially in a place like West Virginia where a lot of people are saying I'm a Baptist. A lot of people are saying I'm a Christian. But let me tell you something. Not everyone, Jesus said, that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, if we not prophesy in thy name, then thy name will cast out of the heavens. And watch this, in thy name done many will works. They're trusting in their works, my friend. And many, many people from West Virginia are gonna stand before God and say, God, I've done the works. And he's gonna say, depart from me, I never knew you. It's not about works. It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved. And you brought up the verse earlier. If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest. It's like you said, it's where is your faith. It's not how much faith. None of us even has the faith of a grain of mustard seed. But is all of our heart trusting in Jesus or are we trusting in Jesus plus works, Jesus plus baptism, Jesus plus speak in tongues, Jesus plus repent of my sins? No, it's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart and you say. And guess what? Most people don't believe that. And say, oh, these are my Christian friends. Do they believe in the eternal security of the believer? The Bible says, this is the record that God gave us. That God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his son. He said there's two kinds of people. He that believeth on the son of God have to witness in himself. He that believeth not God has made him a liar because he believed not the record that God gave us. And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life. Amen. So do they believe that record? They're saved. Do they not believe that record? They're not saved. It's that simple. It couldn't be any simpler. True. That's it. That's salvation. Amen. And so what are you doing spending most of your time talking to unbelievers on the telephone? What are you doing if you're spending most of your time texting and palling around and hanging around with unbelievers when you've got a group of believers right here, you've got other believers outside this room, you've got people who love God, who want to win souls. Let me ask you, where are you going to be tomorrow? Are you going to be hanging around with a bunch of unbelievers? Are you going to be at some unbelieving Halloween party? Are you going to be trick-or-treating like a little kid or dressed up at some drunken party with a bunch of people? And by the way, I have a great Halloween costume. This is a good Halloween costume for girls. Why don't you dress like a modest Christian lady? People will think it's a costume. You know what I mean? Like a feminine, modest, Christian young lady, they'll think that you're dressed up for Halloween. Because nobody dresses that way anymore, unfortunately. And you say, well, what's wrong with trick-or-treat? Are you against going door-to-door on Halloween? No, I think everybody should be going door-to-door on Halloween. That's good. Yeah, go door-to-door. You want door-to-door? You think it's fine to go around the neighborhood knocking on people's doors? When you said knocking on their door, dressed up like something wicked and some pagan, satanic thing, trick-or-treat, why don't you say, hey, do you know for sure if you die today you're going to have it? That's the door-locking that I want to be doing. And so we've got to be careful that we're not violating scripture here. And you say, why is it so important? Well, look down at verse 17. He says, wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate. Come out from among who? You know, unbelievers that we're yoked up with, that we're teamed up with, okay? Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. What's the impression there? God will not accept you hanging around with a bunch of unbelievers. Do you see that? Because he says, then I'll receive you and will be a father unto you and ye should be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. You say, wait a minute, I thought I'm already God's son. You know, I'm already God's son. I'm saved, I'm born again. Well, you know what? Your spirit is saved. Your spirit is born of God. But you know what? The flesh is the same old flesh. And if you're walking in the flesh, you don't have that father-son relationship with God. It's not until you walk in the spirit, separate yourself from other believers, is God really being a father to you? Is God really playing the role of a father in your life? Because if you're in the flesh, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. So don't tell me God is your close father and he's there for you and you walk with him and he's so close with you if you're walking in darkness. He said, if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. You see, if we want to have a close walk with God, we've got to unyoke from unbelievers and start yoking up with the right people. That's why church is so important. Because you're getting around. You're speaking often one to another. What are you saying, Malachi? They that feared the Lord, spake often one to another. There's fellowship there that's talking to each other. There's being close friends so that they can pick you up when you fall, so that they can sharpen you and encourage you, which the wrong friends are going to do the exact opposite. So number one, we're not talking about unsaved friends, because he said the 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. Now that's a pretty strong statement. Now who was called the friend of God in the Bible? Does anybody know? Abraham was called the friend of God. He says, wait a minute, you want to be a friend of the world? You're the enemy of God. Now stop and think about that. You want to walk onto the campus of West Virginia University and everybody just, oh, you know, here he is. You know the popular people, everybody just loves them, and they walk in and everybody just wants to be around them and thinks they're so cool. You know what? You are not living for God if that's the way people treat you when you walk onto that campus. If you're just the buddy of the world, everybody just loves you, woe unto you when I'll speak well of you. He said, for so did they the false prophets. They love Billy Graham. They love the TV preacher. You ought not just be the big hero, the big shot. And you know what? If that's your goal, you're not serving God with all. Because he said you're actually his enemy. That's a pretty strong statement. This verse blows me away every time I read it. I forget how strong it is. Even now I'm shocked by it. You're the enemy? It's a powerful verse. You're the enemy of God, wow. But if you would turn in your Bible to the book of Proverbs, we're gonna look at a few verses. So number one we see, unbelievers should not be our buddies, our friends, our close friends. And you say, oh, but I've been friends since I was a little kid. It's my close friend. And get them saved. Amen. Amen. It's good. And you know what? If you keep giving them the gospel, keep giving them the gospel, eventually they won't even wanna be your friend anymore. I know that from experience. And so you oughta sit there, you oughta have to say, well, we're just buddies, we just don't bring up that subject. You don't love that person, man. You know what I mean? If you love him, get him saved. But here's a good verse, Proverbs 17, 17. Because not only should we have friends that are believers, but what is a friend? Because today, a lot of people have the wrong idea about what friendship is. I think of the verse in the book of Judges where it talks about Samson, and it talks about the man who Samson had used as his friend. Does everybody know what I'm talking about? It says, whom he had used as his friend. And that's what most friends are in the world, by the way. Basically, your worldly, unsaved friends that you just don't wanna give up, or your friends that are saved, but they're worldly, but they're not serving God, but they're not living for God, those aren't your real friends. Let me tell you something. Remember the story about the prodigal son? He went on to a far country, spent all his money on riotous living. He had all the friends. He was Mr. Popular, threw all the parties, blew all the money, but whenever he didn't have any more money, all his friends forsook him. Nobody wanted anything to do with it. The Bible says no man gave up to him. That's when you find out who your friends are. But look what the Bible says about a friend in Proverbs 17, 17. It says, a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. You see, the unbelievers are not gonna love you at all times. The worldly Christian is not gonna love you at all times. You say, prove it from the Bible. I'll prove it to you right now. What was the primary application of that 2 Corinthians 6? We think about what it's usually preached, not to marry an unbeliever, right? They say don't be unequally yoked, and they're talking about marrying someone who's an unbeliever? Well, wait a minute. You're dating an unbeliever. You're married to an unbeliever. Does that person really love you? Well, my Bible says everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. That's what the Bible says. Beloved, let us love one another, because everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. You see, the unbeliever doesn't even know what love is. God is love. And the person who's not saved, that doesn't have the Holy Spirit living inside of him, doesn't have the fruit of the Spirit, which is primarily what? Love, joy, peace, all these things. Love comes from God. And so your friend, you say, oh, my friend, they love me. They're going to be there for me. They're going to stay with me. Hey, everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. And they're not just born of God. They know God. And there's a big difference between being saved and knowing God. Paul, who's been saved for years, said that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering is being made conformable unto His death. The people who know God the most are the people that love you the most. Look, I've been through some rough times. I've been through times where a lot of people were turning their back on me, even recently. A lot of friends, a lot of people that had stood with me in the past turned their back on me when it becomes unpopular to be my friend. And by the way, right now it's not very popular to be my friend. A couple months ago, it wasn't very popular to be my buddy, to be my friend. And you know what? That's why most people forsook me a couple months ago. And it's funny how some of the same people listen to the same sermon and say, oh, that's a great sermon. Love the sermon. And then CNN gets a hold of it, and then everybody starts saying how bad it is, and all the worldly people, all these ungodly whores and whoremongers on the silver screen, these bunch of perverts who have the audacity to call themselves a Christian, like Rick Sanchez on CNN. Oh, I'm a Christian. I pray to Jesus. You pray to Satan, Rick Sanchez. And they get up there, and they, oh, I pray to God. I pray to Jesus. You know what? They start criticizing you, and then you find out who your real friends are. You know, all of a sudden the wind's blowing in a different direction, and all of a sudden people start forsaking you. But let me tell you something. The people that stood with me, the people that have always stood with me throughout my whole life were people that were saved and loved God. It wasn't the fair-weather friends of the world. I can look back over my elementary school, junior high, high school, friends that I had in college, and you know what? None of them, none of them is standing with me today or would help me today if I needed it or would be there for me today if I needed it. Why? Because they were just worldly friends. They weren't saved. They weren't saved in many cases or they didn't love God. They're not serving God. And you know, the people who've been my closest friends who've loved me were people who really, let me put it this way. I've never been loved by a liberal. It's true. I've been in liberal churches. They never love you. They don't do anything for you. It's the fundamental Baptist that loves you. It's the one who tells you the truth that loves you. It's the one that's there for you through thinking, and they love you at all times. That's what the Bible says. A friend loveth at all times. And brothers are born for adversity. But who has that kind of love to love you at all times? Those who are born of God and those who know God. The people who read the Bible and know what it said and preach what it said and win souls and do the work. Hey, they love God and they love you because they love God. Because they know what love is because love comes from God. The unbelieving boyfriend, you know, girls that are listening to this, the unbelieving boyfriend, he'll tell you he loves you, but he doesn't love you according to the Bible. That's right. The watered down, liberal, sissified Christian boyfriend, he says he loves you, but he doesn't really love you. That's right. He's going to put you in a pair of pants. He's going to send you to work while he sits. He's not going to take care of you. I see the guys that girls date today, you know, they, oh, he's so cool. He's so fun. He's a loser in many cases. He's going nowhere. That's right. You know, what you ought to be looking for is a young man that knows God and loves God. That should be the first two criteria. Amen. Because I'm sure every woman wants to be loved by their husband. Well, that means if you go to the Bible, that's the first two things you look for in your head. Number one, is he born of God? Number two, does he know God? That's what you ought to look for right there. Not whether, oh, we like the same music. Oh, we both like the same TV show. But this is what people look for. It's ridiculous. But look down, if you would, let's look at some more things from Proverbs. Look at chapter 18. Proverbs 18, 24. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there is a friend that's taken closer than a brother. So God says, if you want to have friends, you've got to be the right kind of a friend. You've got to be friendly in order to have friends. And he says that there is a friend that's taken closer than a brother. I mean, even sometimes when even your own brother would turn his back on you, the right kind of friend will still be there with you. And you say, I don't need friends. I can stand on my own two feet. Hey, God says, you're going to come to a time when you might fall. It's good to have a friend to lean on. That three-fold cord is not easily broken. None of us is above sin. None of us is above failing or getting discouraged or quitting. We've all been discouraged. We all get down. We all get disheartened and heavy from all the things that life throws at us. Hey, it's good to have a friend, especially three times a week. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, getting around some friends that really love you. That'll build you up. That'll edify you and strengthen you. And he says here, there's a friend that's taken closer than a brother. And obviously, Jesus Christ is our friend that sticks closer than a brother. But even many earthly friends can stick closer than a brother. He said in verse number six of chapter, go to chapter 27, Proverbs 27. You see, the friend is the one who loves you enough to tell you the truth, not the one that's just going to butter you up because look what it says in verse six. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You see, there are people in this world who try to kiss up to you. There are people in this world who will be nice to you or friendly, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about love. There are people who will be nice and friendly and kiss you and tell you how wonderful you are, but it's deceit. He said, faithful are the wounds of a friend. Sometimes your friend might tell you something that you don't want to hear because they're telling you the truth. And sometimes the truth hurts. But they'll tell you the truth because they love you. They're not just going to tell you what you want to hear and lead you down the wrong path. Look at verse 10. Look at verse 10. Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. God's commanding us here. Don't turn on your friends because you need them. He said, neither am I to go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity, for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. Look at verse 17. Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Look, if you would, at Amos chapter 3. Look at Amos toward the end of the Old Testament. Amos. One of these short books. The Minor Prophets. Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. I love these short, profound verses in the Bible. Just short, succinct statements that God makes in the Bible that just seem to sum things up a little bit. But he says in Amos chapter 3, verse 3, kind of a famous verse. He just says this. Can two walk together except they be agreed? And yet today, how many Christians do we see yoking up with the wrong people and it's their downfall? I think of pastors. You know, I've known some pastors that are a great guy, but they're under somebody else's wrong influence. There are pastors who are part of a denomination. And it's making them corrupt. Because they cannot, they cannot be right, they cannot preach right while they're yoked up with the world. When they're yoked up with unbelievers, when they're yoked up with ungodless. And it seems like that's where they can really preach and be what they need to be. I remember, you know, when I was at Hyles Anderson, there were a lot of things that I was believing and preaching and saying that were wrong. But you know what? When I got away from the bad influence of Dr. Jack Scott, it was almost like I could see clearly now. You know what I mean? It was like there were certain things that were just kind of, it's almost like you're under their spell. You know what I mean? It's hard to explain. But you get away from it all, you get away from all the garbage and the phony preaching and all the garbage. You get away from it and it's like all of a sudden it's just you and God and you can see clearly now. And you know what? You get in the wrong associations, you get yoked up with something that's dying and you know what? Those germs are going to get on you. That putrefaction is going to corrupt you. You can't walk together unless you're agreed. You've got to be separate from unbelievers. Look at Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter number 12. And you know, this is a very important sermon because you really are right now or you soon shall be what your friends are. You know, if I look at where your friends are going I can tell where you're going. I can tell the direction that you're going. Some of you guys that are listening to me preach right now, you've been saved for a very short time. And yet you are more spiritually mature than Christians that I know that have been saved for decades. Why? Because you're friends with people who are spiritual, who are winning souls, who love the Bible, who love God. And that's why you are leaps and bounds ahead of other people who are just as sincere as you are, just as interested in growing and being a good Christian as you are but they're not around the same kind of friends that you're around. And that's why you're leaps and bounds beyond them because iron sharpens iron because that friend is picking you up and building you up and lifting you up. I'm having trouble finding the verse that I'm looking for. Somebody, oh here we go, verse nine, sorry. Romans chapter 12, verse nine. Watch this. Because having a friend is all about what? Loving that person at all times. Being there for when that person falls you're going to be there to pick them up. You're going to be there to help them. Look what it says right here. Let love be without the simulation of for that which is equal cleave that which is good. What does dissimulation mean? What does it mean to simulate something? What's the simulator? Is it real? No. The simulator is fake. And let me tell you something. Your love is fake in many cases. He says let love be without dissimulation. Don't have love that's fake and he tells you the formula for how not to be a fake, a fake friend. Have you ever heard of a fair weather friend? Yes. A false friend? A fake friend? And you know what? We've all had fake friends. We've all had people turn on us. And I mean people will turn on you at the drop of a hat sometimes when they're not a real friend. He said right here let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. The person who really loves you hates sin. Did you hear that? The person who loves you hates sin. Look, you've got to have some friends that you can rely on that are going to love you. You want your wife or your husband to love you. You want your friends or your companions or the people in your church to love you. They've got to hate sin. That's who really loves you. And your friends that love sin, they don't love you. Their love is fake. It's dissimulated. It's also because they're part of the world. They're running with the world even if they're safe. You see, tomorrow a lot of people are going to these parties. People here might not have plans to go. Yeah, I hope not. But they're going to Halloween parties filled with unbelievers, filled with drinking. Oh, you're not going to be drinking. But you're yoking up. You're pounding around with drunks. That's what the Bible calls people who drink. It calls them a drunk. A drunk. You're hanging around. Go back to Malachi 3 where we started. You're hanging around with drunkards, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters. You're hanging around with unbelievers, and you say, these are my friends. They're not your friends. Your friends are the people you know that believe on Jesus Christ and love God. That's who your real friends are. Treat your friends right. Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. When you have a true friend, you better do everything you can to keep that friend because it's a rare thing. It's a rare thing to have a real true friend that you can rely upon. But look at Malachi 3 where we started. He said in verse 16, Then they that feared the Lord spake off in one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine save the Lord of hosts, and that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth them. Watch this. Then, so after you get to the point where you're hanging around with the right people, where you're speaking off in one to another with those who fear God, not even just saved but that fear the Lord, that love God, that serve God. He said, Then and only then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. You see, you've got to get around the right people and be able to discern, Hey, wait a minute. These people who call themselves Christian, they're not serving God. They don't love God. They don't love me. They don't care about me. They don't care about people. Hey, if you care about people, you'd go out and win souls to Christ that the psalmist was preaching on. He said, Hey, if you believe that hell is real, and that was a great message that showed all these things in the Bible, these infallible proofs, this evidence. And he said, Hey, if you believe that hell is a real place, you're going to go out and love people enough to go give them the Gospel and get them saved. And the Christians that you know, that say, I don't care about them. I'm saved. But to hell with everybody else, let's go trick or treat. To hell with everybody else, let's go to this party. We'll just drink a little bit because it's moderation. Or, you know, to hell with my friends, to hell with soul winning, I'm going to go to a rock concert on Sunday. I mean, think about it. Christians that would skip church and go to a rock concert on Sunday to go see, you know, one of the U2. Come on. Come on. You know, oh, we got to go see U2. We got to go see, who do people listen to? Help me out. Worldly. Metallica. Yeah, you know. We got to go see, come on, worldly ones, help me out. Don't be afraid to give me, come on, help me out here. Miley Cyrus. What? Miley Cyrus. Miley Cyrus. Get out of here. Who invited this guy? At least you can sing like Eminem. You know, people that will skip church and go to a rock concert on Sunday and say, oh, we got to go see, oh, it's the Super Bowl. You know, let's all go sit around the Super Bowl or let's go do this. Let's do that. And everybody's got everything else to do and they just want to have fun, fun, fun. And they don't care that the world's going to hell. They don't care that people need the gospel. They don't care that you're the only hope that these people have and that there's probably hardly anybody in this state that's really knocking doors aggressively, preaching the gospel to every creature. And if you don't do it, then it's not going to get done and you're going to get yoked up with the right people because Jesus sent them out two by two and he said, go ye into all the world and praise the gospel. He didn't send them by himself. He sent them two by two. Hey, yoke up with the right people and get with somebody that's going to be your partner, that's going to be your friend, that's going to love you at all times and you're going to love them and you're going to stand with them. And when other people criticize them, you're going to stand up for them and be their friend and love them and stand with them and they're going to stand with you and you're going to go out together in the Bible says. Him that soweth, him that reapeth can rejoice together and say, hey, we are in the yoke, it's me, it's you, it's Jesus and we're going to get somebody's hand instead of wasting our life. It's good, it's good, it's good man. See, when I preach on friendship, you need a friend because you need somebody to go knock doors with you. You need someone that's going to pick you up when you fall. You need somebody to encourage you. You need somebody to stand with you. Are you going to get that friend? Are you going to get that friend at the party? Are you going to get that friend at the rock concert? Are you going to get that friend at the bar? Are you going to get that friend at the night club? You're going to get that friend at church. You're going to get that friend from people who love God and know God and walk with God and you're going to get with that person and you're going to walk the same direction. It's time, you know what, and I hate to say this, but it's time to cut loose with some of your so-called friends that don't even love you. That's not a popular thing to preach. This subject is never popular. You preach this subject and people get upset because they say, well, this is my buddy and so what if they're Mormon? I say, you know what, love that person. Give them the gospel. Be kind to them. Pray for them. Reach out to them. Be there for that person when they fall, but don't speak often with that person. Why don't you? You want somebody to speak often too? Get with God's people. Team up with God's people and two are better than one, my friend. That's what the Bible says. The threefold cord is not easily broken. You get what the Bible says. One of you shall chase a thousand, but he said two of you shall put ten thousand to flight. You see that? It's not double. It's ten times as powerful. Ten times as powerful when you have two people joined together. It's ten times the power. The threefold cord is not three times as strong as one cord. You guys are a bunch of engineers. You should know that. You guys want to know that? I mean, you're right, Bob. You have a degree in engineering and I'm explaining to you, hey, the single cord, if you braid three cords, it's not three times stronger. How much stronger is it exactly to do the math for me? It's a lot, lot, lot stronger. I don't know how much stronger, but it's much stronger. It's not triple. It's ten times stronger. And it's the same thing with your friend. You guys ought to thank God that you have this group. Amen. Thank God for it. When I was your age, I would have loved to have this group right here. You don't even know how fortunate you are to have this group. That's right. I remember being in my young 20s. Thank God I had my wife. It was pretty much just me and her there for a while. We didn't really have friends our age. We didn't really have people with us, but thank God there were the two of us. Thank God we had that. But I remember before I met my wife when I was just about 18, 17, 18 years old in the Fundamental Baptist Church, there wasn't really anybody my age that I could really relate to in the church I went to. I didn't have anybody to pick me up. I didn't have people to go soul winning with me that could be my friend, that could be my wife. I remember Roger Jimenez came along at one point at that church. Boy, when Roger Jimenez came along and he and I, we got hooked up and we got together and we started soul winning as teenagers. I was 19. He was 15, I believe. When we got together and started soul winning together, we didn't do double the soul winning. We quadrupled the soul winning. I'm going to tell you something. We motivated each other. We strained each other. We strained each other. And just that friend, Roger Jimenez, made me do much more for God. And I made him do much more for God. And we built each other up. Getting married helped me do a lot more for God because now I have somebody on my team, a partner. But what happens when you're out dating the world? Is that what you're going to end up with? A partner that's going to help you? That's going to go soul winning with you? Is that what you're going to end up with? You say, oh, well, you know, it's OK to just date unbelievers. You know what? Take them on the first date. I'm all for you taking an unbeliever on a date. And send them down and open in your Bible and give them the Gospel. That's your date. And if that's not your date, then you're not right with God. That's right. Right. And so let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, please just help us to let this sink in, dear God. It's so important that we don't pal around with the world. We don't want to be a friend of the world. We don't want to be yoked up with the world. Help us to be different, dear God. Help us to be separate. Help people look at us and see a difference and that they'll know that we're your disciples because of the love we have one for another. God, help us to love our friends. Help us not to turn our back on our friends and just use our friends, dear God. Help us to be a friend and to lift them up, to encourage them, to love them at all times, dear God. Help us to choose the right friends. Help us not to have this simulated love where we love sin, we love the rock and roll, we love Hollywood, we love the force and whoremongers of Hollywood, and then we claim to love our friends. God, help us. Help us to have true, genuine love, dear God, and go out two by two and get people saved. We love you and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, let's sing another song that we want to sing here. I want to say something real quick. Sure, go ahead. You did a sermon that I love and I'd love for you to just talk about a little bit where God puts the emphasis so much greater saved and saved as far as his brotherhood as opposed to his blood brothers who were lost or John and Mary. You hit on that in the sermon. You know, I read it and it never clicked with me until you said it. Right, yeah. You're talking about Matthew. What about the importance? Matthew chapter 12. Yes, sir. Let's turn there and look at it real quick. Yeah, that's good. Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. All right, I'm going to start over with a whole new sermon now. I'm sorry. Amen. Matthew chapter 12 verse 46. Yeah, that's a great point. It says, While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with them. And these are his four half-brothers that are listed by name, James, Joseph, Simon, Judas, that are his earthly half-brothers, the children of Mary and Joseph. They're standing out there with Mary desiring to speak with them. Then one said unto them, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. Verse 48. But he answered and said unto them, They told him, Who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth the sand toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. Amen. I mean, think about that. You know, you've got your family, you've got your earthly mom, your earthly dad, your earthly brothers and sisters, but you know what? We call people brother. Oh, brother so-and-so. You know what I mean? It kind of rolls out the time I go to church and say, oh, brother Anderson, brother Simon, brother Robinson. But do we stop and say, hey, this is my brother. I mean, do we really believe that? Do we really feel that way? And say, hey, you're family. You're my brother. And Jesus here, he's not even, it's not that he didn't like his mother or his brother. He's using them as a good comparison. But he's saying, you know what? This is my brother right here. Amen. That's good. I'm not gonna just forsake these people because my physical brother is out there because he's like, these people are just as much my brother. I mean, how many times does God say, like, for example, in First Corinthians, for example, in First John, chapter four, where he says, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him that he that loveth God love his brother also. And then he said, whosoever believeth, or whosoever shall confess, let's turn it real quick. I'm gonna turn it. I don't wanna quote it wrong. I wanna end with this. But he said, actually, I wanted to end before. No, I can't. Whosoever, I love this, I didn't wanna quote this wrong. This is one of my favorite verses. First John five one. I didn't wanna misquote this. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ and born of God. Now, is there something hard to understand about that verse? Isn't that pretty simple? And yet everybody gets all complicated. Oh, well, you know, you gotta repent and you gotta have a willingness and there's gotta be a change. No, whosoever believeth is the Christ and born of God. Whosoever believeth is the Christ and born of God. Now, Jesus is the Christ and born of God. Amen. Period. Done. And watch this. And everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Now, wait a minute. Do you have to love God to be saved? No. Because if a man say I love God, you know, he said, if you love God, he keeps his commandments. Not every Christian keeps his commandments. We grow in love toward God. There's degrees of love. Some people in this room love God more than others. You say, which ones? The ones who obey God more than others. Alright, why? Well, wait a minute. If you love God, if you love him that begat, are you listening? If you love him that begat, you love him also that's begotten of him. Yes. And God's begotten us again unto a lively hope. Right. And so, if you love God, you'll love your brother also. He said, this commandment, he will love God and love your brother I mean, stop and think about that. This is your brother. Somebody who saved, somebody who loves God, somebody, that's your brother. And God emphasizes that even more than, how many times do you see Jesus with his physical brothers in Matthew? You know what I mean? You know why? Because they didn't believe. They were unbelievers. The only time you even see him interact with his brothers is where they're antagonizing him in the book of John. They're making fun of him. They're mocking him. And he says, hey, Jesus, I'm not gonna go. You go on your own. Get out of here. And he went to his real brother and all those that were saved. Now, later on, thank God, they ended up getting saved. After he rose from the dead, they got saved. They became great preachers and Christians and soul winners. But you know what? This is family right here. Amen. You say, why would somebody drive all the way from North Carolina? You know, why would somebody drive all the way from Maryland? Why would another person drive all the way from Maryland? That's what the Bible says. I was told there was gonna be food here. Oh, okay. We don't have different reasons. Yeah, whatever happened to all these, like, what, peanut butter fingers and what was all that? Is it here? Yeah. All right. So, what song are we gonna sing? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.