(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Well, it's great to be back at Shield of Faith Baptist Church, Amongst Friends. And I just want to thank Pastor Jones, Ms. Jessica, and everybody here for your hospitality. I really appreciate it. It's been a good time. It's a short time, but it's been a good time, and I'm thankful to be amongst friends. And speaking of friends, I'm preaching on the subject of friendship tonight, and I don't know that I've ever preached a sermon specifically about friendship, but let me give you the definition real quick, and then we'll get into the sermon here. Obviously, we use that word friend a lot, but could you actually define it if someone asked you to define it? And so I just kind of looked up a couple definitions, but I found this one I thought was really good. So the definition, there's several different definitions of it, but this one kind of more relates to what I'm speaking about tonight. It says, one who is attached to another by affection, one who entertains for another sentiments of esteem, respect, and affection, which lead him to desire his company and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity, opposed to foe or enemy. So when someone's a foe of your friend, then you're opposed to that person. You seek to promote the happiness of your friend and the prosperity, and it's kind of a mutual respect. And obviously, it's using his and him, but obviously, ladies have friends too. So it's nice to have friends. If you have to tie a pork chop around a dog's neck to get you to play with him, that's your only friend, well, I'm sorry, but you know, maybe you just need to be more friendly with people and with your dog. You shouldn't have to do things for people to always have them like you. I'm just kidding anyway. But let's look at verse 17. This has actually got a few verses in here that I'm going to use in my sermon, but look at Proverbs 27, verse 17, it says, iron sharpened with iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Let's have a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, so much for this great church here, Shield of Faith Baptist Church. I pray that it would be a lighthouse and a beacon of hope to the community around it. And Lord, I just pray that you'd bless Pastor Jones, Miss Jessica, and the family, and of course the church family here. And Lord, I just pray that many people would see this church, and you know, despite the fact that the enemy hates this church, I know, Lord, that you love it, and I pray that you just bless it, and that you bless the preaching of your word tonight as it goes out. Help us to be better friends. Maybe there's just an area in our life that we're lacking with our friendships, so just pray that you'd help us, Lord, with the scriptures, and you'd fill me with your spirit as I begin to preach. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. So obviously there's a lot of scriptures about friendship, and you know, Remy, he preached a really good sermon this morning, and it was fairly short, I think. I think it was under an hour. But Remy chastised you with whips, so I'm going to chastise you with scorpions tonight, so no, I only have five pages of notes, so however long it takes me to get through five pages, usually it's maybe an hour. So anyway, let me look at my clock here, okay. All right, well, so again, there's a lot of things to say about friendship in the Bible, and there's just lots of different applications and things, but as Christians, you know, we are called to a higher purpose in life, and every relationship that we have, all the things that we do in our life should have purpose and Christian, a Christian purpose in our life, and that includes friendships. So we shouldn't be friends like the world is friends. They're fair-weather friends, they're using you to try to get something out of you, or you know, you're pretending to be friends with someone so you can stab them in the back. That's what the world does, and we shouldn't have those kind of relationships in our lives. We should be a good friend, you know, we should take a look at what the Bible says about friendship, we should take a look at the good examples in the Bible about friendship, and we should apply those things to our relationships, and you know, hopefully by the end of the sermon, you know, maybe this sermon will help you become a better friend or see what God thinks about how you should be as a friend to other people. My first point tonight is, true friends try to make each other better. True friends try to make each other better. Look at Proverbs 27 verse 17 once again, it says, iron sharpenedeth iron, so a man sharpenedeth the countenance of his, what's it say there, friend. So this concept here that iron sharpens iron is true, it's a fact. When you sharpen knives, like me and Pastor Jones really love knives and swords, it gave me a really cool sword the last time I was here, I think I actually could literally beat Zelda with that sword, but yeah, it was a great gift, and you know, we like swords, we like knives, I mean, we carry knives on us everywhere we go, I got my knife here with me now, and I usually have a knife on me at all times, so just beware, you know, if you try to come attack me, you might catch a blade. But this verse is telling us that iron sharpens iron, and so it's kind of comparing that to friends sharpening each other how, well, what are you trying to do, you're trying to make it your blade's cut, right, you're trying to make your blade sharp, and so when friends, you know, when they sharpen each other with their speech, with the examples that they give each other, you're going to make your friend better, and so that's my first point is true friends should try to make each other better, and so we shouldn't be detriments to our friends, we shouldn't be bad friends, we should, when we talk, you know, a lot of us will fellowship after church, and what are we, what are we fellowshiping about, sometimes we talk about goofy stuff, but you know, guys like to tease each other or whatever, and that's fine, but as far as making each other better, though, what do we talk about? The Bible, we talk, you know, and the Bible is like the sword of the Lord, right? So when it's talking about iron sharpening iron, you know, we want the sword of the Word of God to sharpen us, so when we're talking to each other about scriptures and different concepts in the Bible or just spiritual things, that is going to make each other better, so, you know, it's good to talk about the Bible, it's good to sharpen the countenance of your friend and make them better, and so we shouldn't be friends with people and be bad influences on them, and so David and Jonathan are good examples in the Bible of great friends. They kept it real, and they truly cared about each other, and David even says that his love for Jonathan surpassed the love of women. Now I don't really understand that, you know, obviously it's not talking about him being a queer, so don't even go there, but they did have a love for each other, a friendship that was different, obviously, than the love of women, but a very strong and powerful friendship. I mean, the first thing that Jonathan does is gives him literally the clothes off his back. You know, that's what friends do. They're there for you when you need them, and Jonathan was a great friend of David. He stuck up to his dad, who was the king of all Israel. He stuck up for David when he was trying to kill him for no reason, even to his own hurt. So sometimes, you know, friends will be there when you need them to be there for you, and Jonathan was there for David. Of course, even after Jonathan was dead, Jonathan's not really dead, right? Jonathan's in heaven. Now David followed him into heaven, but you know, we don't look at things like that necessarily. Sometimes you'll see in the Bible where a person would die and they were good to that person, but then they would kill that person's son later on or something. We ought to think about, you know, these people that were friends but that were saved, we're going to see them in heaven again someday. It's like, well, you were a good friend to me while I was on earth, but then you were crappy to my family or whatever. It's just like, you know, we ought to think about those things, and David was like, what can I do for the house of Saul? What can I do for the house of Jonathan? And you know, David did great things for his family. Even though Jonathan was gone, he still helped out his family, and you know, David and Jonathan are probably some of the best examples of great friendships in the Bible. He even, you know, I mean, Jonathan saved David's life, and you know, Jonathan, it really hurt David when Jonathan died. And even though they weren't together, even though they were on separate paths, David still cared about Jonathan. He still was a great friend to him, and they tried to, I believe that they tried to make each other better. They were good influences on each other. They weren't always, they weren't talking about doing evil things and how they could get ahead, how they could overthrow Saul. They were just good friends to each other, and they both mutually benefited. Now look at Proverbs chapter 27 verse 9, in the same book there, in the same chapter, Proverbs chapter 27 verse 9, it says, Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. You see, the Bible is saying here is that, you know, when you get good counsel, when you get hearty counsel from a friend of yours, you know, that is, you know, something that rejoices your heart. When you know that your friend is there, and you can call that person, no matter how long it's been since you talked to him, no matter how far away you are from each other, that you can call that friend, and they're going to give you some hearty advice. You know, that is something that should rejoice our heart. That's what the Bible says it does. And so, but you know, here's the thing, friendship should not be one-sided. You know, if you're going to make friends and make, you know, you're going to try to make your friend better, well, it shouldn't be just a one-sided thing. Friendships are a mutual thing. You know, if you're just the one being a good friend, well maybe they're not really your friend. You know what I mean? So we should have, we should try to make friends, obviously, nobody wants to go through this world without any friends. I mean, it's good to have friends, but let's just be honest, you know, the friends that you can count that are faithful to you, the friends that you can count that are actually going to have your back, or they're going to be at your side, you know, it's very small amount of people. Because, I mean, I don't know about you, but I've been backstabbed by friends several times in my life. And the people that I hung out with when I was in kindergarten, I don't hang out with those people anymore. And I'm not saying they backstab me, but you know, you grow apart, you move away or whatever. But who here hangs out with people that you actually went to high school with? Anybody? Well, yeah, one person, okay. So it's not very often, though, that people continue to have friendships with people they went to school with, but, you know, as you get older, people are going to betray you. But that doesn't mean that you should stop trying to make friends. You should be a good friend, despite how people are with you. And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but I'm just saying this, that true friends are going to try to make each other better, and we should have friendships that are not just one-sided, okay? So sometimes we try to be friends with the wrong people, too, and that can mess us up. But I'll get to that later. But number two tonight is friends don't just tell you what you want to hear. Real true friends will not just tell you everything you want to hear, because nobody needs a yes-man in their life all the time. Now, obviously, some people can't handle the truth, and I would say this as a friend, unless someone's asking you for counsel, then I think the best idea is to not try to give people your opinion too much, because some people just can't handle the truth, it's just a fact. They get mad, you know, you tell them something, and they're just like, you know, but obviously sometimes people can be so harmful to themselves that they need to hear something from someone. Look at verse five in our chapter here, it says, open rebuke is better than secret love. And so sometimes we have to rebuke people in our lives, and I've had to rebuke friends. Who's had to rebuke a friend before? I'm sure multiple people in here have had to rebuke a friend, and the Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love. So it's better to just be honest and be upfront and be forthright with people, and especially your friends. You know, shouldn't people be able to count on the honesty of a friend? Hey, what do you think about this? If someone asks you, hey, what do you think about this, obviously there's tactful ways to say things like, you're just an idiot, you know, what are you doing? I guess it just depends on how good of a friend you are with that person, but, you know, sometimes people need to be told that they're wrong, and that's what rebuke is, right? And it can be a harsh thing, but, you know, sometimes, you know, and this is the thing, if someone rebukes you and they're right, you should just take that and fix whatever's wrong with you. Look at verse number six, it says, faithful are the wounds of a friend. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. See there's a lot of kiss-ups out there that they say that they're your friends, but in reality they're just your enemy, and, you know, even think about Judas, Judas come up and what did he do to Jesus when he betrayed him? He kissed him on the cheek, didn't he? And so that was a, he was actually an enemy that Jesus called a friend. But faithful are the wounds of a friend, see a friend is going to tell you what's true, a true friend is going to give you the honest truth, and it can wound you as a friend. But you shouldn't stop being friends with someone because they tell you the truth about something, because a true friend is going to tell you the truth and that's what you should want from them. So you should want honesty from your friends, and if someone asks you an opinion, then you should give them the true answer and don't just beat around the bush about it. So think about Rehoboam. So he was Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and look at 1 Kings chapter 12 verse 8. So Rehoboam, he kind of messed up, he was in the lineage of David, Solomon's son. He was the one that took over as the king of Israel, and obviously God's hand was in all this, but the way that Rehoboam responded to counsel from friends was wrong. And so we've got to understand that sometimes people that say that they're friends aren't giving you the best counsel that they could, so we should always try to match everything with what the Bible says in our lives as far as taking advice from people, but look what it says in 1 Kings chapter 12 verse 8. It says, But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him. So Rehoboam, his counselors that he counted on, he goes to Solomon, his father's counselors, and said, what should I do? Because basically they had said that there was too much what Solomon, they put too much of a burden upon the people when it came to Solomon. They served more than they should have or gave more than they had to give, and so they're basically just saying, well hey, if you will kind of ease the yoke a little bit of our servitude for you, then we'll be your servants forever. And so basically the young men said that basically you should respond to them harshly, but the old men said, do what they're asking you to do, and he had a choice. He could respond to the old men's counsel or the young men, but it says he forsook the counsel of the old men. So back in Proverbs chapter 27, I should have had you just leave your finger there, but back in Proverbs chapter 27 verse 10 it says, thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. So was it good for him to have friends that were young and friends that were old? They were literally his, I mean, if he would have read what his dad wrote down for him and took it to heart in Proverbs chapter 27 verse 10, then maybe he would have made the right decision and the kingdom hadn't been split. See when you follow the counsel of foolish people, then foolish things are going to happen in your life. So you've got to mark who the true friends are. Now it didn't say forsake your young friends and only have your father's friends for friends, but if he would have just said, you know, it says thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. So he forsook the old man's counsel, the opposite of what his dad told him to do. See that? So true and honest friends, you know, a true friend, excuse me, will be honest with his friends. And so they were honest with him and he took the wrong counsel. So we've got to be able to discern between, you know, who's a true friend, who's telling you true advice and who's not. So and even, and I would say this, even if it costs you your friendship to be honest with someone, you should still be honest with them. Because if they can't take the truth, then they were never, you know, and they're just discarding you as a friend because you were honest with them, then that person wasn't really a true friend to you in the first place. But you were a true friend because you gave them the honest truth, right? So number three tonight, I'm moving right along here, is friends love at all times. Friends love at all times. Look at Proverbs chapter 17 verse 17. Proverbs chapter 17 verse 17. Proverbs 17 verse 17. Friends love at all times. Look at what it says. A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. So a friend should, you know, I'm not saying that all, this doesn't say all friends love at all times. But if you are going to be a friend to someone, you should love that person at all times. Because there's times in people's lives when they're going through a hard time. Is that the time to stop being a friend with them? If that, if your person is destitute of money or needs help financially, is that the time to, oh they're poor, now, you know, all they want to do is ask me for money all the time. And look, you've got to be able to discern between who's a true friend and who's just trying to be a mooch. Because it's funny, you know, you'll get these MLM, multi-level marketing people, that as soon as they see a pop on Facebook, they just, you know, they jump out, yeah, hey, do you want to be part of my multi-level marketing? And they never talk to you on Facebook until they see your little green light is on or whatever. Those people aren't true friends, they're just trying to milk you for some kind of money. You know, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about your real friends, if they're going through a hard time, are you there for them? Do you love at all times? Your real friends, when they're going through a hard time, are you comforting them? Or are you, you know, just turning your back on them? See a friend's supposed to love at all times. You know, the brother's born for adversity, obviously, you know, that's talking about probably your fleshly brother, but it can be talking about Christian brothers, but obviously Christian brothers and sisters should love each other. That's what the Bible says. And you know, if you have a friend that is a brother in Christ, which that should be pretty much your only friends, in reality, you know, you love that person at all times and all seasons of life, and we all go through seasons of life. We all get older, you know, things happen, we have children, you know, whatever, whatever it is in our lives, you know, we should still love that friend and be there for them. Titus 1.8, go ahead and turn to Titus, actually I'll just read Titus 1.8, go ahead and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 20. And so, should we love our friends when they do something wrong to us, though? Is anybody here perfect, that never makes mistakes, you never talk bad about people, you never have talked bad about people, I mean, it happens. Sometimes you just do stupid things, you say stupid things, but that doesn't mean you stop loving your friend. Now there's a difference between someone being a Judas Iscariot, false prophet, and you're like, well, you know, you don't want to stay friends with people like that, okay, there are exceptions to these things, but if someone's truly your friend, and they just do something that you think is messed up, do you have to just discard them as friends at that point? No, because we all make mistakes, we all have issues and problems, but Titus 1.8 says, and it's talking about the qualifications of a pastor, it says, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men. See, as a pastor, it's one of the duties that we should have, and what we should love is good men, people that will stand by your side, and obviously we never know when someone's going to stab us in the back, we never know, but you know, if we perceive that person's good, then we should love that person, and we should be a lover of hospitality. But Ecclesiastes 10.20 says, curse not the king, know not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. And I think that the Bible just explained this, like, you might think that nobody else is ever going to find out what you say about them, but they do hear back. And I'm not saying a literal bird is going to come and then whisper the story to somebody else, okay? It's, you know, it's being a little tongue-in-cheek here, it's just saying that, like, even in your bedroom, it might not be safe what you're about to say, you know, about somebody else, so we shouldn't curse people, it says even not in our thoughts, you know, a friend loveth at all times, why would you curse your friend in your thoughts? Why would you talk bad about your friends to other people? And obviously we shouldn't do that, but even if somebody does do that, we should still be willing to forgive that person. And look, just like, you know, we don't want people, you know, if someone does something at church to give you a dirty look, or they don't shake your hand, you know, maybe that person's just having a bad day. Maybe that person's just having, you know, some issues at home and they just don't feel like being, whatever, but does that mean you should have a vendetta against that person for the rest of your church life with them or whatever? Of course not. And so turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 20, Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20, and all I'm saying is that before we get all high and mighty and on our high horse about our friends, if they do something or hear that they said something about you or whatever, you know, just be willing to forgive people. Didn't Jesus forgive people? I mean, Jesus forgave a lot of people and he probably heard the thoughts of his, you know, think about this, Jesus knew people's thoughts, he knew what their hearts were like, and he's literally the only sinless person on the planet that ever has been on the planet. And he has to navigate around his whole life, 33 years or whatever it was, around people that he knew exactly what they were thinking, what was in their hearts, and had to still be nice to them. I mean, think about how much, I mean, do you think that people never thought bad thoughts about Jesus, even his own disciples? I mean, that must have been pretty nerve-wracking to be a disciple of Jesus when you know that he can read people's thoughts, because like he would just be in a room and then he was about to do something and he like, but he knew their thoughts, it's like, that's, you know, but guess what? He still knows our thoughts. He's up in heaven, he still knows everything we think, everything, you know, so we should have some forgiveness for people, for our friends, if they do something wrong to us. Look, Ecclesiastes 720, it says, For there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That's the truth. Everybody is a sinner, right? But look at the context. Also take no heed unto all the words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee, for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise has cursed others. What is it saying here? Well, it's saying, you know, don't take heed to everything that you hear back or everything you heard somebody say, you know, we don't necessarily have to right every wrong. We don't have to, you know, we can take reproach. You know, Christ took reproach for us. We can take reproach from people and not have to settle the score with them. And it says, for oftime also, thine own heart knoweth thou likewise, just like them, has cursed others. So like, when we start getting on our high horse, I would never treat a friend like that. You probably have. You probably thought something. It says, you know, in chapter 10, it said, not in thy thought. So here it's just talking about, you hear something that someone said about you. You heard something that, you know, you're a boss, and someone's working for you, and you heard them say, oh, he's a lazy or whatever, you know, or whatever it is, you know, do you think that the boss has to say something? I've been on, I've led crews where I could tell someone was upset with how I was leading that job or whatever it was, and it's like, you know, sometimes I would say something, sometimes I wouldn't. You know, if someone's rolling their eyes at me when I'm not, you know, when they think I'm not looking, I'm going to say something about that. But my point is here is that if a friend loves at all times, just realize you've been a bad friend to people before, too, so we don't have to just stop being friends with people for every transgression that they do. You know what I'm saying? And so we should be willing to forgive people, and that's what part of being a friend is. Hey, do you love that person? Well be a good friend to them, and just say, you know what, who cares? Who cares if they said something about me? You know, obviously if they're just like, well I really hate them, I mean that might be an issue, but like, you know, if someone just, you know, people just say, sometimes we say stupid things, we're sinful, you know, we're going to say things that we regret, we're going to talk bad about someone that we shouldn't have talked bad about, but you know what, you know, get over it. Everybody does it, and I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that it happens. Look at Proverbs chapter 6 verse 2, Proverbs chapter 6 verse number 2. And you'll notice I'm going through a lot of Proverbs here because this is what? Wisdom. This book was written to us so that we could become wise by reading its dark sayings, right? Proverbs 6 verse 2 says, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth, do this now my son and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the land, or excuse me, the hand of thy friend, go humble thyself and make sure thy friend. So what's it talking about? Someone caught you talking bad about them. That's what it is, right? Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth. So it says, hey, when thou art come unto the hand of thy friend, go and humble thyself and make sure thy friend. If someone, you know, you busted someone stone cold talking about you, but you love that person and you want to just forgive them, look, that's what the Christian life is all about folks. We should be willing to forgive and humble ourselves and if we do something wrong, a lot of times here's what people do in the world. Someone will catch them doing something wrong and then they'll be mad at the person for confronting them over the thing that they did wrong and then stop being friends with them. I mean, you know it happens. I remember my wife, she was in the bathroom at a church that we went to a few churches ago and one of the people, a lady in the church, she was having a conversation with someone in the bathroom and she was sitting there just talking trash about my wife while she's in the stall. They don't know she's in there. And then later on my wife confronted her, you know, because she didn't know that she felt that way or whatever and my wife was always a friend of that person and she confronted her with the situation and said, yeah, I heard what you were saying about me when I was in the bathroom and you didn't know it and she was like, she tried to justify herself. That's what most people will do, but eventually she did apologize, but my wife is the type of person that like if somebody, you know, she doesn't always confront every single situation, but there's been times, you know, I can think of a few times when she's, you know, confronted people and that one went okay because she forgave her and everything was good. But then, you know, I can, I remember one where, you know, she confronted that person and that person just never talked to our family again and then was just rude to my wife all the time. Why? Because she just said, hey, you know, you said this about me and she wasn't like trying to like not be friends with her anymore, she just wanted to say, look, I heard what you said, let's work this out and then the person doesn't want to do it. So we should be humble. See how it says humble thyself and make sure thy friend because if we humble ourselves and just jump off of our high horse that we're on sometimes, we realize that we do wrong things too and, you know, when you're caught in the act, just humble yourself and get over it and apologize, you know, most people will be like, hey, I'm sorry, who's never been in a fight with a friend? I mean, I've been in arguments with friends lots of times but it doesn't always mean the end of your friendship but just know that we, you know, if you're going to be a good friend then when it's time to apologize, apologize, right? So if your friends do you wrong, you should do them right. Isn't that what Jesus taught? It's not, you know, do unto others as they do unto you. That's what Samson was like, you know, every time someone wronged him, he's like, I'm just doing to them what they did to me and fivefold or tenfold, you know, I burned their whole fields down. What are you going to do? You know, so I killed all their foxes. I ripped the gate off their city door, you know, he just, every time somebody wronged him, he wronged them back and how many friends did you see with Samson at the end of his life? He didn't see anybody. Nobody loved him, not even Delilah. You know, Delilah cut his hair off as like, thanks for the money, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. He thought she was a friend but she was not someone that you can confide any kind of truth into, right? Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32, let's turn over there, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32. See, you know, obviously there's all kinds of situations that friends get into but ultimately the Lord calls us to be forgiving. He calls us to be tender hearted. He calls us to do these things for a reason. Look what it says in verse 32 in Ephesians 4, it says, and be ye kind one to another. Tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. See, we don't deserve to be forgiven. He did it for Christ's sake because Christ, his mission was to come here and die just like Remy was saying this morning, to die and he fulfilled his mission. And it's so that God could forgive us and so he could get past his wrath and his anger and when he looks at us he doesn't go, ugh, I just want to be done with these people. He looks at us and he sees the precious blood of his son and he's like, you know what, I'm going to pass over this transgression. And so, you know, the Bible, the apostle Paul is telling us here, hey, you know, why don't you just try being kind? How about that? How about being tender hearted, you know, caring about people, forgiving one another because God did it for us. You know, you think about the parable where the guy grabs the guy by the throat, he's been forgiven this great debt, you know, it's the parable, I don't know what the exact parable is called, but basically the Lord forgives him this great debt, that's our sin debt that's all forgiven, right? It's what it represents in the story. And then that guy, he's like, this guy owes me a hundred pennies or whatever and he's just like, give me those pennies, sucka, you know. But he grabs that guy by the throat and says, pay me all that thou owest. And so God was really upset with that person because, you know, he forgave him this huge debt all their, you know, i.e. all their sins and then over some little small transgression that person, you know, was not willing to forgive them of something very small. So we as Christians, we have to, you know, get a hold of that concept and obviously, you know, we get betrayed a lot, we get stabbed in the back a lot, and I understand that, but you know, I mean, if we are in a possibility to forgive people, we should, I'm talking about friends. I'm talking about, I'm not talking about Judas, okay, I'm talking about real friends. So number four is my last point, my last point, but it's the longest one, Ms. Jessica. Don't be a bad friend, you know, I've been kind of alluding to some of this already, but don't be a bad friend, that's my last point. So turn to Job chapter two, Job chapter two, and obviously, you know, Job is the example of a man that went through heavy, you know, persecution. He went through heavy losses in his life, and he's even lost his health after losing all of his children, all his wealth, and he's going through a really hard time, like the hardest time you could possibly go through. And look at Job chapter two verse eleven, it says, Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came, everyone, from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, he was a short guy, and then Zophar the Naamathite, and they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. That's a good thing, isn't that good? If your friend's going through all this stuff, to come and mourn and comfort that person, that is what a friend should do, right? And it says in verse twelve, And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not. And they opened up their voice and wept, and they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven. And they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, that's a long time, that's a week, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great. They sit there for seven days and seven nights, they've ripped their clothes, they threw dirt on their head, and they just sat there for seven days and seven nights and didn't say a word to him. Those are good friends. Like, I've never had a friend do that for me when I was having a hard time, I mean, that's really good. But the problem with that is, is that they didn't continue to do that. The problem with that is that then they, you know, and this is what people like to do, if you're having a hard time, they're like, well, you know, it's just persecution because they didn't come to Sunday night service or whatever. Or this is just persecution because, you know, they're not tithing or, you know, whatever it is. Or, you know, they skip the church service to go to a blazer game. You know, and maybe it is. But you know, as a friend, you don't really know what that is. So don't just assume that that's God's judgment upon them because you don't know. Maybe they already repented to that sin and they plan on being there next Sunday night or whatever. Just using that as an example that we as friends shouldn't just be ready to jump on people and act like whatever they're going through is because they sinned. Because sometimes it's just God's trials, God's testing of us, and He allows bad things to happen in our lives so that we can be better, right? Now look at what they did, look in Job 16 verse 1, Job 16 verse 1. So you know, these guys come to comfort Him, everything's good so far. Now what I'm not showing you is all the things that they accuse Him of in between, but they're just basically accusing Him of sin and calling Himself righteous and saying that you just think you're perfect and you're a hypocrite, you know, tell us what you really did, basically all this stuff. And that's kind of what the whole book of Job is about. It's obviously what He did to get through His testing. He passed the test, but His friends didn't pass the test of being good friends because they stopped being good friends to Him through the whole book, basically, and God had to come in a whirlwind and reprove them, right? But look at Job 16 verse 1, it says, Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things, miserable comforters are you all. And that ought not to be said about us as friends, is that when someone is in a time of need, or someone's in a time of mourning, someone's in despair as your friend, that you would go to them and just start accusing them of all this stuff instead of actually just comforting them. There's a time for all that other stuff. There's a time like maybe it is something that they did wrong, and they made a mistake, they screwed up, you know, join the human race because everybody does it. Everybody makes mistakes, you know, and God will punish us for the things that we do on this earth, but we don't always know exactly what those things are, and it's really not our business to go around, you know, guessing why things happen to people, right? So look at Psalm chapter 41 verse 9, Psalm chapter 41 verse 9. Now Psalm chapter 41 verse 9, I believe, is a scripture directly referencing Judas Iscariot. Now if you think about it, Jesus called the twelve, you know, some of them were fishermen, some of them, you know, were tax collectors or whatever, you know, they had different various jobs, but notice what the psalmist calls Judas, and this is like, you know, this is like, you know, a prophecy about Jesus. It says, yea, mine own familiar friend, as it says friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. And this is, you know, I think in the New Testament it is quoted as a scripture about Judas' betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm pretty sure that there is a quote about that, but I definitely believe that that's what this is. But notice how he says he's my familiar friend, someone that he knew, someone that he was around every day for like three years, and here's the thing, Jesus was always a good friend to Judas, even though he knew what was written in the Psalms about him, even though he knew that he was going to stab him in the back, even though he knew that his destiny was hell, he knew he was a devil from the beginning, he knew that he was never going to believe, but here's the thing, Jesus was a friend to him anyway. He was a good friend. And so that's how our attitude should be too, is that we're going to be good friends until they give us a reason to not be friends with them, right? A real reason. You know, someone like literally is, you know, trying to get you killed, which is exactly what Judas did, he betrayed the son of God, and obviously we know that Judas is roasting in hell for all eternities, probably in one of the lowest pits of hell, but, you know, he basically trusted Judas, he held the bag, he was the money counter, and obviously again, Jesus was the son of God and he was God, so he knew all things, but it didn't stop him from being a good friend to him, did it? So I mean, when we think, well, I've just suffered so much from this person, well, what about Jesus, having to hang around this devil for three years, knowing his thoughts, knowing what he was really doing, knowing what he was ultimately going to do, because when he came up, he's like, behold, him that betrayeth me is at hand, isn't that what he said? Like he knew that he was coming, what thou doest, doest thou quickly, in John, he went out, Satan had possessed him, and then he goes out and betrays him for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a servant, turn to Matthew chapter 26, verse 47. So obviously, you know, but we're going to have to deal with things like this, me and Pastor Jones were talking about this, how, you know, we don't even know who is going to betray us and who isn't. It just happens. The disciples, there are some people that are so good at fooling you, so good at playing church, so good at pretending to be good church members, that you won't even know them. Yeah, there are some people that are really easy to spot, you know, they walk in, there's a wolf tail swinging from behind, they're talking about giants that, you know, the mountains are giants and, you know, the earth is flat or, you know, just weird stuff that people believe. The two seed doctrine, just a lot of weird stuff. People will come in and you can just tell right away, this person's a bozo, this person's a Nephilim doctrine person, they've been watching too many conspiracy, you know, videos or whatever, you can tell. But there are some people that are so good that they can fool you, gain your trust, gain your friendship, you know, gain all this status with you, and then all of a sudden, they're your worst enemy. But as long as we're a good friend to them, I think that that's what God wants us to do, is be the best friend we can be to those people in the church around us. And yeah, you know, people are going to do stupid things. Like people at church, when they're new at church, they're going to probably not know certain things that we do know. But that doesn't always mean they're a bad person. It could just mean that, you know, they've never been in a Baptist church before. I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of people that, you know, this is one thing that I realized when I first started the church in Vancouver, you know, when I was under Pastor Mendez, is that I had to, like, realize most of the people that were there had never been to a Baptist church before. How are they supposed to know how to act? I've got to teach them how to act. You've got to teach them, as Pastor Mendez says, you've got to teach them to be normal. Because some, you know, and here's the thing, if you're not in church all the time, you're going to have these crazy outlier beliefs that you have. But see, and I remember when I got saved, the first thing, I went to a Baptist church, I've always been a Baptist ever since I've been saved. That's the first church I went to, was a Baptist church. But I'm in basketball shorts, a tank top, a blazer, a Portland Trail Blazers jersey, you know, whatever. I smell like cigarettes, you know. That's how I show up at church for the first time, you know. And afterwards, I want to talk with the pastor. And what I ask him, do you believe that Christians can cast devils out of people? He probably thought I was a nutter. He probably thought I was that wolf walking in or whatever. But like, you know, I had people in my life that I believe were possibly possessed, but I had never been to church before like that. So I'm having this, like, I'm reading books by people I shouldn't be reading, you know, I'm getting into stories or whatever that I shouldn't be getting into. I'm delving into realms that I shouldn't, we're not supposed to delve into the realms of angels, the Bible talks about that very plainly. We don't know enough about it, you know, we know that Jesus cast devils out of people, but we're not going to have, have you had any demon possession outcasts in this church before? You know, we don't have those either. And you know why? Because that's not what we're called to do, we're called to preach the gospel, we're called to teach and preach the word of God. The apostles were doing that, Jesus Christ was doing that, you know, and I believe if you get someone saved and they are possessed, which I think happens, which I know I've gotten people saved that were possessed, I know my wife has gotten someone saved that we thought was possessed or mentally ill, if they can be clear enough to understand everything you've said and they pray and ask Christ to save them, God will save them. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So I don't know where I got off on all that stuff, I'm just saying that, like, as a new Christian I believe some weird stuff, you know, but it took me time to be in a Baptist church to understand, you know, it's like, I didn't even have any pants. All I wore was shorts, I'm like that Northwest guy that, like, wore shorts everywhere. I had one pair of pants and it was jeans. And like, I remember the pastor, like, I just said, you know, I would wear, because this guy came and preached, he was from West Coast Baptist College, and it was actually Roland Rasmussen's son, I think it was Matt Rasmussen. But he, you know, here I am, it's playoffs, I'm like in my Blazers jersey with no t-shirt underneath, it's just my, you know, ticket to the gun show, or whatever, and wearing shorts literally, and he just starts preaching on standards, I don't know if it's because he saw how I was dressed and decided to change his sermon, I doubt that that's true, but he was, first he was bashing on the Blazers, which really pissed me off because he was a Lakers fan, but I remember that this, you know, that I felt like I was wrong, I needed to get right with God on the way out my standards were, my dress standards. And so I went to the pastor and I was like, hey, you know, I don't, you know, I want to dress right, I was like, but I really don't, I like literally did not have money to buy clothes at that time, and I said, I would wear pants if I had some, and then he just like, you know, bought me like three pairs of Dockers or something, which was really nice, and you know, I didn't just continue to show up with my shorts on, and my Blazers, you know, I started dressing nice and started, you know, wearing a shirt and tie and all that stuff, and it's like, you know, that's not the biggest deal in the world, but all I'm saying is that, you know, we should be kind to people that come in and they're not where we're at. You know, everybody graduates to certain levels, but if no one's ever, if someone's never even been to a Baptist church before, you know, we have to teach them, it's, you know, if someone comes in and they're, maybe their hair doesn't look exactly like we think it should, like the Bible says it should be, let that person, you know, figure that out. You don't have to go, hey, you don't have to walk up to them and go, hey brother, you need to cut your hair, look at this purse. This is a shame for a man to have long hair. I mean, first of all, you know, let the, if the pastor's going to do that, let him do that. You know, but we, we shouldn't just be walking up to people and offending them on purpose. It's like, obviously let the word of God teach them, because if the person's saved and they're going to get right with God, they're going to get right with God with a, with a right attitude. You know, and I'm not saying never rip on sin, I'm not saying that, I rip on sin all the time. But I'm just saying that we have to realize that not everybody's a new IFB, Independent Fundamental Baptist, ready for war, soul winning tabs already in their Bible the minute they walk in here, like, we know what to expect. You know, and, and one of the things that, you know, I'm sure that this, your, I know your pastor agrees with this, is that when someone comes in, there's a time to give someone a gospel. They're coming to church, they're coming to experience the services, they're coming to experience how, you know, they don't know that they're coming to get ambushed, ambushed by gospel preachers, and I'm not saying that's wrong to ambush them, I'm just saying maybe ambush them after the service, so they've been able to take everything in, you know. But anyway, I'm going to get off that. So anyway, turn, did I have any turn in Matthew chapter 26? Okay. So I read the verse in Psalm chapter 40, 41 about, you know, Judas, you know, I believe this is Judas, the friend whom he trusted, and look at what it says in verse 47, and it says, and while he had spake, lo Judas, one of the twelve came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, whomsoever I shall kiss, the same as he, hold him fast, and forthwith he came to Jesus and said, hail master, and kissed him. So the kisses of, you know, the enemy are deceitful, aren't they? It says that Jesus said unto him, even after he betrayed him, look what he says, friend, wherefore art thou come? He still calls him friend, because he was a friend unto the end, wasn't he? Even though he's a filthy, rebellious traitor that sold, literally sold his flesh to the Pharisees, he leads up these soldiers with all their stuff, all their swords and staves, and then walks up, kisses the very door of heaven, and then Jesus still says, friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. One thing we know, if he was that friendly to Judas, how much more is he a friend to us? You know, there's that gospel song that says, what a friend we have in Jesus. I'm sure all of you know that song, what a friend we have in Jesus. You know, he bears all of our griefs. He loves us unto the end. He is long suffering to us, and he was long suffering even to a reprobate, scum, false prophet, you know. I'm just saying that we have room to grow too, don't we? Don't we have room to be a little more loving to people? I think we should be. So turn to Proverbs chapter 18. I'm not trying to be, you know, preaching some simp stuff here, but hey, you know, there's nothing wrong with loving people. There's nothing wrong with caring about people and being a friend, a true friend to somebody. So we're on the subject here of don't be a bad friend. Look at Proverbs chapter 18 verse 19. Look what it says, a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. So it's saying that basically this fortified city, once you offend somebody really badly, it's hard to win that person back over. So be aware of the fact that we shouldn't just go around offending everybody, because there are people that have a hard time making friends. You know why they have a hard time making friends? Because they go around offending people all the time. And once you offend somebody to the point like, you know, if you're not even really friends with them yet, and they've already offended you, it's like, it's going to be even harder. It's harder to win a battle against a fortified city, or yeah, it's harder to be won than a strong city, and the contentions are like the bars of a castle. So it's not a good situation, so if you're seeking to make friends, going right away and offending someone is the wrong way to seek friends. Turn back to Proverbs chapter 16 verse 27. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 27. The Bible says, an ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer seperateth chief friends. And again, I'll go back to the point of talking bad about people. Obviously, and there's people that will go around just trying to dig up evil on somebody so they can expose them or whatever. It's like, that's just, it says an ungodly man diggeth up evil. Is that what you want to be considered? The person just goes around digging up dirt on everybody so that you can expose them? The Bible says they're ungodly, and their lips is as a burning fire. They're tail-bearer type people, and it says a froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer seperateth chief friends. You want to go around talking bad about people all the time, and talking behind their back? Well, it's separating chief friends, and that's exactly what we shouldn't be doing. So don't be a bad friend. Don't be this type of person. Turn back to Proverbs chapter 17 verse 9. Proverbs chapter 17 verse 9, where we began, trying to make it easy on you, just flip back and forth through the Proverbs for the most part here. Proverbs 17 verse 9 says, he that covereth a transgression seeketh love. See, it's the opposite of digging up dirt, isn't it? And it's not saying be part of a cover-up when someone does something bad. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about covering a tree. Sometimes you don't have to just expose every person's sin, and that's not what we should be doing as Christians, just going around trying to find out people's sins so we can expose them. It says, but he that repeateth the matter separateth very friends. So that's different than the chief friends, but when you're repeating other people's business that don't need to know about it, then you're out of bounds. That's ungodly to do that. That's what it said in chapter 16, right? So I'm just saying that what we do, what we say, can affect other people, and we ought to, instead of going around spreading things about people, that we should cover that transgression. If someone tells us something, we don't need to tell everybody else about what they said to us or whatever their problem is in their life. Some people just like to have the scuttlebutt on what's going on, and it's a really bad area to get into in your life. We just shouldn't be like that. Isn't that what the Bible's saying? Am I wrong? Turn to Proverbs chapter 19 verse 4, Proverbs chapter 19 verse 4. And a lot of people just become friends with people because they feel like they can get something out of them. They can get higher up in the status. It's like the people at work that'll suck up to you and then stab you in the back to climb their way up the corporate ladder or whatever. And a lot of people will see someone has influence or status or something, and they'll try to make friends with them so that they can put their way up to the top. So look at Proverbs 19 verse 4 says, wealth maketh many friends. If you've got a lot of money, then a lot of people are going to like you, right? But the poor is separated from his neighbor. So poor people, when it comes to that, and this is how worldly people are, but us as Christians we ought not to be this way. It doesn't matter how much money someone has, what kind of person are they? Because there's poor people, there are people who rise and fall in their finances all the time. Look at verse 6, many won't treat the favor of the prince, and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. Don't be in a friendship just for the fact that you can try to get some kind of thing out of that person that's not a good friend, that's being a bad friend. So don't make friends, you know, just to see what you can get out of it. Look at verse 7, it says, all the brethren of the poor do hate him. How much more do his friends go far from him? He pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him. So it's like when someone's poor, you don't want to be friends with them anymore. Like they just try to get away, you know, oh yeah, this person's calling, they must want money again or whatever. Sometimes people need help, you know, we should help them. If you, you know, I don't know if I'm going to quote this verse right, but it's basically if you have the power to help somebody in your hands, to give it to them basically. I know that's not the verse, but when you have the power to help somebody, you should do it as a Christian. So again, these are higher standards than the world has for friendship, aren't they? Because how many people in the world are actually friends like the Bible explains? They're not. So don't make friends, and this is for kids too, and teenagers that are in here, and sometimes your parents will say, hey, I don't want you to hang around with that person, and kids don't understand that, teens don't understand that, and it's like, well, that person's influencing them in a bad way, and kids, you know, children and teens, sometimes they don't understand that. They're like, I really like this person though, and it's like, you like them, but what are you, you know, what are you lured to them about? What is it that you like about them? Is it because they're the bad boy, or the bad girl, or the one that just doesn't really like going to church, and they're just here because their parents are making them, or whatever. Don't, you know, choose good friends. That's what I would tell you. If you're choosing friends for the wrong reasons, if you're choosing because they're just so cool, you like the way they dress, or whatever, they're so good looking, that's not how we should judge things, kids. And you know, the Bible talks about Amnon, David's son, and what does it say? But Amnon had a friend. And what ended up happening was Amnon ended up, you know, basically raping his own sister at the advice of this friend. See, friends can influence you in ways that you would never think that they could. But you know, you hang around someone that's bad, or a bad friend, they're going to give you bad advice, and then, you know, what ended up happening to Amnon is he ended up getting killed by his brother for what he did to his half-sister. And so, you know, and then Amnon, you know, his, what was his friend's name again? I can't remember his friend. Jonadab. That's what I thought. I was going to say that, but I was like, eh, I don't know. Is it Jonadab? Yeah, Jonadab. Not a very good friend. You know, he's advising his friend to do something that's, first of all, weird, and then second of all, wicked, and then, you know, third of all, it's just, he just destroyed that person's life. You've got to understand that there's, you know, you are who you hang around. You might not think that, but you'll start talking like that person, you'll start walking like that person, you'll start liking the same things as that person, and if that person's not a good friend, then they're going to lead you in a way that you don't want to go. So as good, you know, pick good friends. It's good to have a good name. You don't want your name soiled, and it's talking about, you know, basically who you are. What do people think of when they think of your name? Do they think good things? That person's a good kid. That person's a great teenager. He's a great influencer. They think, hey, I don't want them to hang around that kid. If that's you, that's, you know, you need to change. Because look, all this stuff applies from small children on up. So and then we don't want to, so we don't want to pick friends that are going to give us bad advice or get us into trouble. You know, the Proverbs talks about, you know, not hanging around these, basically they're like these gangsters or whatever that are like, hey, let's all, you know, gather together and we'll have one person, we'll split it all up, and we'll, you know, talk about murdering people and taking their money. It's like if you fall into a pack of friends like that, it's like you better just, you know, they start talking about killing people or hurting people. You get away from those people. And you should thank God that you have a parent that's going to bring you to a church that's going to teach you the Bible and you're like, well, I just want to experience what's going on out there. You know what's going on out there? Go look at the poll over there where the queers have put the rainbow flag and keep stenciling it on up there. And this weirdo that comes and walks back and forth in front of your building like nobody even cares, these, you know, reprobats and all their freaky weirdos that come every once in a while and do dance parties or whatever, is that what you want? That's what's out there. This world's getting strange, folks. And kids, those are the last people that you want to hang around. They say they're loving while they're defiling children. They say they're loving while they're doing the most abominable, wicked sins that you could possibly get into. And here's the other thing, don't be friends with someone, first of all, as a friend, don't be an enabler. And what is an enabler? Well, an enabler is a person who encourages or enables negative or self-destructive behavior in another. So most of the time it's used modern day as people that will enable drug use or harmful things like that. Like sometimes mothers will just give their kids, you know, they'll keep helping them even though their kids are like a really bad drug addict, they should just put them in treatment or whatever, things like that. But an enabler is someone just enables someone to get away with bad behavior. So don't be an enabler and then don't hang around people that would help you to do things that are destructive. Turn to Genesis chapter 38 verse 20, Genesis chapter 38 verse 20. In Genesis 38 verse 20 it says, And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adulamite to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he found her not. So Judah basically goes in, he thinks that this person's a harlot but it's really his daughter-in-law or ex-daughter-in-law or supposed to be daughter-in-law of his other son. The point is that he went to harlots, Judah, and he asks, what does he ask? He says, hey, take all the pledges back and he sends his friend to do it. You know, a good friend would be like, what are you talking about, I'm not going to take your whoredoms back to this whore. I'm not going to enable you to be a whorlonger. So here you have this guy that's like just enabling Judah to do bad. Isn't that what he's doing? Because he's doing his job. He's like, take these over there, you know, I don't want to be seen, you know, around these places or whatever. And it's like, he's just like, okay, I'll do it, I'll be a good friend, but he's not really being a good friend. He should have said, why don't you go over there Judah, why don't you give the goat, why don't you take all the stuff, why don't you take your, you know, all that stuff back. And so, the Adulamite was an enabling friend to a whorlonger. And obviously Judah got things right at the end of his life and whatnot. But you know, maybe if he would have been a better friend, you know, things would have turned out a little bit differently for him, I don't know. But then you think of Samson. So Samson used somebody as a friend. In Judges 14, 20, I'll just read it for you, go ahead and turn to Proverbs 23 verse 7. And I'm going to read Judges 14, 20, it says, But Samson's wife was given to his companion whom he had used as a friend. Be careful when you make friends just to use them for something because something bad might happen to you for the fact that you used that person as a friend. See Samson, and he was really, he got really mad about that and then, you know, death and destruction came afterwards of course. And people died because of how he was doing things. But he used that guy as his friend and that guy stole his wife. You know, so, I mean, just be careful, you know, there is the rule of sowing and reaping, you know, in the Bible. You know, that's whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. You know, if you're a bad friend to people, well maybe that person's going to be a bad friend back to you and steal your wife. You know, I mean, you've got to be careful who you hang around and what your motivations are. Proverbs 23, 7 says, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eaten drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. So you know, when it says, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he, this kind of goes back to who you allow to influence you. Because if you think I'm one of the cool kids, you're going to act like them. If you think, well hey, I'm going to hang out with these people, you're going to become who your friends are. If you're a Christian, you're like, I just want to hang out with these unsaved people so I can get them saved. But in reality, your motivation is to be one of the cool kids. I just want to be one of the cool kids, why do I have to be the nerd homeschooler? You know? But I don't think homeschooling is nerdy at all. You know, you're being saved from having your eyes defiled and your mind defiled by teachers that are teaching some really weird stuff. I mean, folks, if you haven't seen some of the weird stuff on libs of TikTok, I mean, wow. These teachers these days, I can't even believe how bad it is right now. So it's so bad that you actually have people in red states being more militant homos than you do in places like Vancouver, Washington where you think the queers will just be surrounding my building daily. But they don't because there are a bunch of lazy fags up there, you know. But here, they're motivated. Why? Because they want to turn this red state into a blue state. And really, they want to turn it into a rainbow state. And Boise's like the seat of some devil. Obviously, there's some devil here ruling over Boise. It's just allowing these freaks to come and mess with your church. What other church in this city are the homos coming and surrounding every week? Or every other week or whatever? It's here. This is the one. They picked. Why? Well, just see Remy's sermon from this morning where you listen to it. Anyway, we got to be careful who we're hanging around with because as we think in our heart, so are we. You are what you think you are in your heart. And you know what? When you try to rub off on somebody else, you're actually getting influenced by that person. That's why I say, hey, homeschool your children. Like, well, I think we just should have a light in the public schools for Jesus. There's no room for that anymore. You're like, I mean, just think about this mentality. We knew some people that were actually close family to us that went to a Baptist church. And they refused to homeschool their son. Now he's into manga and what do you call it, the Japanese style cartoons. He's just into weird stuff. He's not an independent fundamental Baptist anymore. Why? They let him go to public schools where their kid's mind is being defiled. This is years ago. Think about how bad it is now. Well, get your kids out of those hell holes before it's too late because they're going to be the ones turning you over to the government because of your radical beliefs. You know, I mean, how radical is it that we think you should be married? How radical is it that we think that men with men is weird? Is that radical? No, it's Bible. But everything that we preach in the Bible now, when you come to this church, you're going to get preached the Bible and it's just not popular. So why would you take your kids to a church like this? Why would you have them learn the doctrines, learn all the things, go soloing and all that stuff and then put them in a public school? And look, I don't know who's in a public school. I have no idea. So I wasn't told to preach this and so if I'm offending you, whatever, I'm sorry. But I'm just saying, think about, you know, you're like, well, it's not as bad here. Yeah, you think that. But you know what? They don't have to tell you everything. They don't have to tell you everything that's going on at school. Gone are the days where you could just skip the sex ed class and go to the library and have your kids removed from the classroom or whatever. And then, even then, there's peer pressure. Why did you have to go and sit in the library? What's wrong? Your parents don't want you to know about all this stuff? It's like, no, they don't. But I mean, why even put your kid in that position where they're the only one standing against the truth and they think you're wrong for even not allowing them in the class? So I mean, we've got to wake up, folks, as Christians, and I know that I'm veering off into the grasslands here, but I don't know. I think it's important that we choose our influences. We try to be the best friends we can and try not to be bad friends, but let's not allow ourselves to become those bad friends. Let's not allow our kids to be influenced by those people that would influence them in the wrong way. Because you know what? What's the most important thing? Shining a light in the public school or your kid growing up right. Your kid growing up knowing that all that stuff is wicked and evil and that they should stay far away from it. But you know what? Again, if you allow these types of people to influence your children, then they're going to grow up and they're going to not be like you anymore. They're going to be won over by these libs and these weirdos and these fruitcakes and these drag queens. Who would have thought in a million years that we would actually be a country that's putting up with drag queens, dancing and twerking in front of little children. Who would have thought we were there? Guess what? We're here. First they just want to get married, right? Oh, we just want to get married because we love each other. You faggot liar. You don't love anybody. You bring home more SEDs. You know, there's a, my wife was telling me this before I left, so obviously, you know, she planted a seed or whatever. There's a strain of gonorrhea, which is a venereal disease, which is contact, you know, sexual contact is how it comes and it's resistant to antibiotics. Resistant to antibiotics. So that means someone can fornicate and get this strain and you'll, I don't know what happens to you when it becomes, I think, it's not good. You want to go on your wedding day and be like, you have to explain that or have to, you know, have to do an explanatory thing every time you date someone because you messed up and fornicated with somebody. Everything that we do should be with a purpose. Everything we allow our kids to do should be with a purpose. Everything that we, every person that we let influence us, there should be a reason or purpose behind that. So don't run with the wrong friends, kids, teenagers, and adults. And the Bible says not to follow a multitude to do evil. So look, people, why do you think there's all these different groups that are out doing all this protesting and stuff like that? Because they're following a multitude to do evil. I mean literally, at Steadfast Baptist, they can't even go to a hotel and have church without the media showing up and all these freaks and faggots circling them around and trying to shut down their church services so that they can't go anywhere. We live in a crazy world today and you know what, who we become friends with, you don't want your kids to grow up to be friends with those types of people, do you? Are they good? Is there any redeeming quality about them whatsoever? Absolutely not. So I just want to say this while I end here, I'm going to have you turn to one last scripture and I'll be done. So I just want to say this, what made me think about preaching about this was the fact that Pastor Jones and his family, his wife and his family, they're my friends. And I stand behind them and I stand behind Shield of Faith Baptist Church and before there ever was a Sure Foundation Baptist Church, before there ever was a Shield of Faith Baptist Church, there was just a friendship. And all these years later, you know it's been almost a decade, I think we're getting close there, but every year on Facebook when the anniversary of the first time that we hung out together, the first time we hung out together we were doing like a soul winning marathon. And I remember that some guy tried to fight Pastor Jones at the door and stuff and I was just like, that's pretty cool. He just like drops his backpack and is like, let's go. He's come a long way since then. I think he keeps his backpack on now, extra weight, no I'm just kidding. But you know, I remember we had a meal together and then the next day we all went to church together and we took a picture with all of our family together and after that we started doing soul winning events up there, up north from us and then also in Portland and different areas and even into Albany. I remember the first time I ever asked Pastor Jones to preach and it was in Albany and he preached on a stack of chairs like this tall and I remember looking at his face when he first walked up and I said, did you get any sleep? He's like, nope. Because it's, you know, preaching is a heck of a thing. It's not easy, especially preaching in front of a bunch of people that you don't really know that well and you know Pastor Jones isn't exactly an extrovert, you know, he does well. He's a great speaker, he's a great preacher and I'm just saying that he's just not really loud and boisterous or whatever. So it was a big step for him. But you know, when Joe came to, sorry Pastor Jones, I call him Joe in private, sorry. If that offends you, I'm sorry. You can rebuke me later, I'm sorry about that. But anyway, Pastor Jones, before he was Pastor Jones, you know, he came to the Verity Baptist Church Vancouver church plant with his family and he just wanted to support us and be there for us when we started off this new thing and he wasn't even sure if he was going to continue to go there. He was just coming to be a support, that's what friends do, they support each other. And because he decided to do that, his pastor basically said that he wasn't welcome back there anymore. And so after that, you know, they decided to just say, well we'll try to make it as much as we can, which became every single weekend, which is like two and a half hours away from where we were at. And you know, I began to be able to count on him to preach for me every single Sunday night. And you know, when you have to count on people, you know, it's scary. Because if someone's not there to do the preaching, then you know, you're stuck and you're doing it yourself and you're just like, ah. So it's a scary thing when someone's not there to fill in where they're supposed to be. But you know, I can only think of one weekend I think that Pastor Jones' family even didn't even come on a Sunday night. And it was, they were all sick. It's like, you better get here. No, I'm just kidding. But I understood that. You know, and he gave me advance notice. I'm just saying that, you know, Pastor Jones has always been there for me as a friend. And you know, I grew to count on him. And I remember the day that, you know, he left, there was a, there was a, what was it? Huh? Yeah, it was a solar eclipse. And I knew that was a sign. No, I'm just kidding. But Pastor Jones, you know, he gave up a lot, you know, to come and start a church here in Boise. You know, Pastor Jones had a good job. He kind of retired from that comfortably, I'm sure, with full medical benefits and all that. You know, he, he, he knew he had to count the cost. And so he was coming, you know, he was, he was already paying a price to come to our church. But then he, he knew he had to leave the job that he had that was a good job and go down to Verity Baptist Church. He sold everything he had, pretty much, and everything that he didn't sell, he put into a storage of some sort, I think. And they bought a trailer. And they lived in a trailer park in Sacramento for, how long was it, a year and a half? For a year and a half, their whole family, Kayden, man, in that trailer. And all I'm saying is, I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for them, I'm just saying that they have sacrificed a lot to be here in Boise. And they didn't do that for themselves. I mean, what gain could you possibly get from leaving a, you know, basically a golden ticket type job? I mean, wasn't it, it's a government job. I mean, you don't just throw government jobs away like that. And I'm sure that he made good money, I don't know how much he made, but I mean, he had a house, he had a big house, and you know, he had a lot of things. But he sacrificed a lot of things to be here in this place. And I remember the day that he left, you know, I was, my heart sank. Because I thought, you know, first of all, my good friends are leaving. And the person that, you know, I felt like was a stable person in my life, because you know, I'm sitting here trying to, you know, get qualified to be a pastor too, and to not know that I didn't, you know, to know that I didn't have Pastor Jones there with me anymore to count on, you know, was tough for me. I just remember having that sinking feeling like, man, I don't know how I'm going to get through this without my friend. But that's how it should be when you're away from your friends. That's how it should feel. And like Pastor Jones has been my friend this whole time, and we're still good friends. And I would definitely give him the shirt off my back. He might be able to use it for a tent, but I would definitely do that. But you know, Pastor Jones has been abandoned and stabbed in the back, and you know, so have I. And it happens. But you know what, it's not going to probably stop him from making new friends when they come to church. Because as pastors, we're supposed to be people's friends. But that's the hard thing is that, you know, you can only get stabbed in the back and run over so many times before you feel like, what am I doing this for? Like why did I give all this up? What possessed me to do this? It's all because of Jesus, that's why. Because God spoke to his heart and said, hey, you know, there's not a lot of people, look, there's not a lot of people that can run a church like this. There's not, they're just not. You know, where are they? Because we're not, we're starting churches, but where's all the pastors? You know, they realize when they start seeing the persecution, they're like, oh, I'm going to be the next pastor, I'm going to read my Bible ten times, and I'm going to have fifteen kids and the new IFP checklist, check, check, check, check, I'm going to be, where are they all now? Where are you all at? The Gen Xers have to take it over, what's going on? No other generation is going to step up and do the job? I hope we can get some guys out there that will actually man up and just say, hey, you know what, I'm going to risk everything I have, because you know what, we're going to lose it all anyway. So why not get great rewards? And look, you know, we're not perfect, I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, I know Pastor Jones feels the same way. But you know what, we love the Lord, we love the people of the Lord, and we want to do our best we can to shine a light in the communities that we've chosen to be at. We might always have a friend in Jesus, but sometimes friends leave you, they stab you in the back, like, what happened with Jesus? What happened with Paul? Demas hath forsaken me. We're going to get forsaken in this life, and I would just say this, just apply this to yourself. Be a good friend. Be a good friend. And then when someone proves that they're not your real friend or whatever, then that's on them. But you can walk away and say, you know what, I was always a good friend of that person, and I always, you know, had my best interest, their best interest at heart. And no matter what realm you're talking about in friendship, but with pastors, it's, it's a little different. I mean, we've had pastors that supposedly were our friends, and where are they at? Just scraping the bottom of the barrel, trying to get the people in there, you know, people from our churches that can't make the cut, into their churches. You know, swapping movie directors or whatever. It's just, you know, it's, it's weird. It's a weird world we live in, it's a weird, you know, stage of, of this life that we're in in the end times, and you know, the bet, the thing that we need is people to be loyal. We need people to be friends. Friends to us too. And you know, I'm, I'm proud to say that I am a friend of Pastor Jones, and I stand by him, and I stand by this church, and you know, I hope that everything continues at, here in Boise, and you know, I just, I would just say this, be supportive, be loyal, be helpful, and be here for him, and love his family. And you know, I, I know that they're going to put in the work for you too. I had to turn to one last verse, look what it says, Proverbs 18 24, a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly. You want to have friends? Be friendly. And there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So this is what we want. We want to have friends. Everybody wants to have friends. There's a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. Why do they write books like that? Because some people have a hard time making friends. People are un-loyal. Even Christian friends can be un-loyal. But you know what you can do? You can just say, I'm going to be a good friend. And God will send you good friends. I believe that. Just like if you're waiting for a spouse, God's going to send you a spouse, but why don't you let him do it at his timing? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the fact that we can have friends. Pray you'd help us, Lord, to be friendly to others. And Lord, to take these principles and these verses to heart. Pray you'd help us to be friendly, even when someone isn't necessarily being friendly to us. Pray that you would just help us to be forgiving to the people that are our friends. And Lord, that we would realize that sometimes they do things that we wish that they hadn't. But Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be forgiving like you were forgiving to us. And that God could forgive our sins for your sake. And I just pray for this church. Lord, I pray that you would continue to do work here in Boise, Idaho. I pray, Lord, that you would vanquish and destroy the enemies of this church. And I pray that you would, Lord, help to build the church as you only can. And I pray that you bless Pastor Jones, Ms. Jessica, and the kids, and every single person that comes to this church. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.