Relationship Status - True Friendship

Well hey Bridge fam, my name is Marshall Peterson and I'm a pastor here at The Bridge and I

am very glad to be with you to close out our Relationship Status series.

Now go ahead and give us a thumbs up if you have enjoyed this series because I for one

have learned a lot.

We had Matt Barnhill talking about vulnerability, Kenny talking about how to love people, Kurt

last week talking about reconciliation, so many amazing, amazing truths and I'm pumped

because those are kind of some tough topics.

I feel like I get the fun topic, I get the one that talks about friendship, all things

friendship.

But listen, before we get into it, I love to have fun, I love to bring any kind of cinematic

illustration to you guys, so I want to show you some incredible friends that have crossed

our TV screens, our movie screens, and if you like one, give me a clap emoji because

I love all of them, so just clap for all of them.

The first one is this, Golden Girls.

I mean, where are my Golden Girls fans at?

You gotta love Golden Girls, it's been a rough year, I mean, rest in peace Betty White, she

was a true living legend, we love her.

Love the Golden Girls.

I don't know if it's weird for me to say that I love the Golden Girls, but I did watch it

with my grandmother back in the 80s.

Anyway, what about Timon and Pumbaa moving up to the 90s?

Timon and Pumbaa, Hakuna Matata, who doesn't like this duo right here?

I mean, when I was a young warthog, I won't do that anymore.

What about Jerry Seinfeld?

George Costanza?

I mean, you know, those guys were yadda yadda this, yadda yadda that, so, so funny for over

a decade, and my personal favorite, always saved the best for last, Joey Tribbiani and

Chandler Bing.

I mean, who doesn't want a friend that always asks you, how you doing?

I mean, those are just legends on the screen, but we could talk about friends all day.

I'm sure if I were to ask you, tell me about your childhood friend, you could fill a book

with funny stories, sad stories.

Stories that I probably wouldn't even believe if you told me.

We all have amazing friends, and different friends throughout different seasons of our

lives.

You know, if you call yourself an adult, sometimes I'm able to do that.

We have friends that we were friends with in high school and middle school, friends

that we were with in college, even adult friends.

Now here's where it gets a little tricky.

When maybe one of your friends from a past time shows up in your present time, and you're

not the same person.

Okay?

Let me give you a little example.

I grew up in Nacogdoches, Texas, and when I was 18 years old, I was not following Jesus.

Now I won't tell you why, because my mom is watching, but I also had friends who were

not following Jesus when we were 18.

Especially this one particular friend that I'm going to mention to you.

Now the last time I saw this friend, we were 18 years old, not exactly following Jesus.

So college begins, career begins, I give my life to Jesus, meet my wife Shannon, we start

ministry.

20 years later.

I'm not fucking kidding with you, I'm not.

I still have not seen this friend.

Start working at the bridge, incredible things that God is doing.

Well, one day a couple years ago pre-COVID, this friend shows up to the bridge.

Again, I haven't seen this cat since early 2000s.

I mean, we're talking, like, Clinton might still have been President, last time I saw

this dude.

He shows up and we just kind of give each other this look.

Like, because I know what both of us were thinking.

I'm thinking, what are you doing in church?

thinking you're preaching at a church? It was just weird. And we both had a little bit of

explaining to do about what had happened over the past two decades, but it was, it was a great time

seeing them. We've totally caught up. It was absolutely wonderful. But when we talk about

our friends, I think we're in a weird time in human history where we can look at our relationship

status with anybody over the past two years and just define it as it's complicated because March

2020 changed everything with how we hang out with people. Because March 2020, we were kind of

quarantined for a couple months. We didn't know how long that was last. And then when they said,

okay, you can start kind of coming out. You know, we kind of creeped out, kind of looking out who's

joining us. Not really sure. We still had the mask on our face. And some of us still do. But a lot of

those truths still ring true today. And we don't even know how to hang out. We don't know, is it

okay to go in for a hangout? Is it okay to go hang out? Is it okay to go in for a hangout?

Is it okay to go in for a hangout? Is it okay to go in for a hangout? Is it okay to go in for a hangout?

handshake or a fist bump, or am I going to throw bro hugs? Are those just things of the past? We

don't know what happened with those things, but here's what I do know. COVID was a pandemic that

struck fear into the whole world that is still ringing true today. And unfortunately, the effects

of COVID are pretty scary. And I want to share just a few with you about what COVID has done

with us. Now, before COVID hit, loneliness was already a serious issue in America. But since

the pandemic, new studies have shown that 36%, 36% of all Americans feel serious loneliness.

And of that 36%, 61% of those are young adults, and 51% are young mothers or mothers with young

children, and they are feeling serious loneliness.

And 43% of young adults in America have felt an increase in loneliness just altogether since the

beginning of the pandemic. It has been absolutely crazy. And this thing called social isolation

is definitely on everyone's radar right now because that's like where we choose to isolate.

We don't necessarily want to be around other people. I mean, we have, you have those people

who just, you know what, we call them hermits, you know, and we just want to be by ourselves.

And as I'm getting older, I think I might be turning into one of these. But people who choose

to isolate because of the pandemic, because so many people have lost loved ones, they choose

to isolate. So many people are already dealing with anxiety and depression. They choose to

isolate. Some people move out to remote locations because they don't want to be around people. They

are choosing to do that because of the pandemic. And it doesn't just stop there. We substitute

certain things for what we feel is connected.

But unfortunately, social media doesn't always work like that. Sometimes we mask being friends

with a bunch of people through social media. But what happens is that's just a substitute

for in-person face-to-face conversation. And in fact, we are truly socially isolating. And people

who've lost their jobs, so many people lost their jobs over the past two years. And because they

don't want to deal with the shame or regret or what people might think of them, they choose to

isolate. Now, here's where it really gets scary, is the effects of social isolation. What happens

is people have seen increases because of these deficiencies in their relationships. They have

seen increases in heart disease, in coronary disease. We have seen a 40% increase of the risk

of dementia. And honestly, this study just came out and said people are basically at risk for

higher premature mortality, which just means people are dying sooner because they are not

choosing to isolate because of the fear, because of the anxiety, because of the depression that

we're feeling because of COVID. And if you think people were already frustrated and irritable

before COVID, just go up to any person with a pulse and start talking about COVID, and you will

hear some form of frustration or irritability. Let's just simplify all this, though. Doesn't

this seem exactly like the scheme of Satan? And here's how I know that, because here's Satan's

number one goal. Kenny talked about this.

A couple weeks ago, Kurt talked about it last week. Satan's number one goal for relationships

is to divide them. Satan's number one goal for relationships is to divide them. Now,

how do we know this? Look at this verse right here. This is in 1 Peter 5.8. It says this,

Stay alert. Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion,

looking for someone to devour. Now, Peter makes an incredible,

illustration here with the lion, because if you've ever watched the Discovery Channel at all

and seen a lion hunting, have you ever seen a lion against a pack of water buffalo, and that lion

just heads right for the center of that thing? No. That dude would be dethroned as king of the

jungle like that. Water buffalo do not play. But what you see is the lion kind of prowling around

the outskirts of the pack, waiting for just one. Doesn't matter if it's a baby. Doesn't matter if

it's an adult. If one,

separates, isolates from the pack, that lion pounces on it and has lunch for the next six,

seven hours. Satan works the exact same way. If he can divide us, if he can isolate us,

he is ready to pounce. So we have to ask the question is this,

how are we supposed to hang out now? Because nobody wants to be devoured by a lion. Nobody

wants to be attacked by Satan while we're isolated, while we're on our own. So how do we interact

with that?

Especially with how tricky it is. Because like I said earlier, if you were already awkward trying

to hang out with people, it's even more awkward now. I mean, when we're online, we appear confident,

but when we get in person, face to face, it's like an awkward blind date. We get there. I mean,

think about it. If you've ever been on a blind date, then you know exactly what I'm talking

about. Because blind dates these days are all set up usually through some dating site and you're

online. I mean, think about the dude. He's all like, yo girl, you are so pretty. Oh man,

you're going to have a great time. I'm going to take you out to a nice meal. I'm going to get

you some flowers. I'm not even getting my hair cut. And the girl's like, boy, I'm going to put

on a nice dress. I'm going to get my nails did, makeover. It's going to be fun. Everybody's

confident. And then they show up face to face and the guy's like, oh, you're pretty. And the

girl's like, she's just texting all night, right? It's just, you go back to your default seventh

grade dance stage. That's all.

You know how to do. And honestly, if you have enough of those awkward interactions,

it's easier to go home, isn't it? It's easier to binge that show on Netflix. It's easier to

just game all day. It's easier to just stay in the comfort of your home because you do not want

to face the awkwardness or the reality of having to be in person anymore. And you would rather

be alone. But here's the truth I want to tell you about this. God did not create us to be alone.

Look what he says in Genesis two, the very first,

book of the Bible in the second chapter, he says this, then the Lord God said, it is what not good

for man to be alone. It is not good for man to be alone. God created us for community because

he is a community type of God. And here's how I know that we can simply look at the life of Jesus

and see what kind of God we serve. We can see how Jesus acted around other people.

And y'all, y'all are going to love this verse. Okay. Look at this verse right here. This is in

Luke. This is Jesus. And this is how the son of, this is how God, the son of man walks on the

earth. He says this in Luke seven, the son of man came eating and drinking. Now, can y'all just

clap real quick, clap emoji for our God who loves to eat and drink. I love a God who loves to grub

and that's our God. I'm a foodie. I always love to go out and eat. Jesus was no different.

He lived his life to hang out with people. He loved people and he wanted to share his message

and he wanted to be around people as much as he could. And I'm not just talking about the best of

the best. Jesus would hang out with the worst of the worst, with the tax collectors, with the

sinners, with the prostitutes. He wanted to hang out because he wanted to show people the true

character of God. And he did it so much that people got onto him. The religious leaders of the day

would start name calling him and saying, Jesus,

Jesus, he's nothing but a drunk. He's a glutton. But here's the problem. We know for a fact that

Jesus never sinned. So because he didn't sin, he didn't get drunk. He didn't overeat. He came

to hang out with people where they were. And because he loved people so much, he had a purpose

and he had a mission. And here's where we know that method work. Look at Luke seven 35. It says,

prove right by all her children. What does that mean? That means that Jesus is explaining to these

people who are name calling him. He says, listen, I have a method to my madness. I'm hanging out

with people for a reason because I want people to see the character of God and I'm going to where

they are. So I am going to hang out. I mean, he went everywhere. In fact, the first miracle

recorded in scripture of what Jesus did, he was at a wedding party and this wedding party,

ran out of wine. That would have been a disgrace on the family. And so Jesus, his mother said,

Jesus, I know who you are. They ran out of wine. Do your thing, Jesus. And Jesus was like, it's not

my time. It's not my time. And his mama looked at him and said, Jesus, I'm going to need you to do

this. And Jesus said, well, y'all keep the party going. Okay. Jesus made sure they had wine for the

rest of the week. I mean, we see him having dinner parties at Matthew, who was a tax collector who

is closest to followers, his disciple, and who wrote the book of Matthew. We see him going to

the short King himself, Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, the worst of the worst going to his

house, having another dinner party. And what happens at that dinner party, the worst dude in

town decides he's going to pay back everything. And he calls Jesus Lord simply after one afternoon

of hanging out with Jesus. We see Jesus having dinner,

religious leaders house. And this woman who did not have a good reputation, reputation comes and

washes Jesus's feet with her tears. We see another time, the last supper where he's teaching

valuable lessons. One of Jesus's last moments on earth, he's sharing a meal with his closest

followers. And then even after he goes to the cross, after he's crucified, rises from the dead,

what do we see Jesus doing? Making breakfast for his boys on the beach. He loved to hang out and

surround himself with the Lord. He loved to hang out and surround himself with the Lord. He loved

with food. He knew that food brings people in. And here's the great thing about it is that he had

a mission. He didn't come just to hang out. He didn't come just to be a drunkard or a glutton.

He had a mission. He had a purpose for being around these people, for showing these people,

this is what you need to do. And he always had life change that seemed to happen no matter where

Jesus went. Whether he was telling people to go and sin no more,

whether he was healing people, whether he was feeding thousands and thousands of people,

life change was happening. Intimate interactions with Jesus were happening. So many incredible

things were happening because Jesus chose to be around people. And here's the big part. Okay.

Again, he didn't come just to hang out. He came with the mission. And this is what he tells his

closest followers when it comes to his, his methods. It says greater love has none, no one than this.

It laid down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends. If you do what I command,

I no longer call you servants because a servant doesn't know his master's business. Instead,

I've called you friends for everything I learned from my father. I have made known to you.

You see now that we hang out with Jesus and we get to know Jesus a little bit more in our lives,

we realize that he has a mission and we realize that his mission is now our mission. And how are

we supposed to complete Jesus's mission if we're not around people? You know, somebody asked Jesus,

what is the greatest commandment? Jesus gave them two. First one was love God with all your heart,

soul, mind, and strength. And the second, love your neighbor as yourself. How are we supposed

to love others if we isolate ourselves? If we are constantly divided, we aren't able to fulfill

Jesus's mission. And this mission is seen all throughout scripture. And I want to share a few

verses with you that really show that God has always been about the business of community,

always been about the business of being together. Here's the first one. This was in Psalm 133.1.

He says, how good and pleasant is it when God's people live together in unity? Did you see the

emphasis there? How good is it? He says, it's not good when we're alone. He says, but how good it

is when we're living together and we're living in unity. We are created

together.

To be relationally full. Did you realize that? We were created. We are wired for community. We are

meant to be around people. Other verse says this in Romans. It says, be devoted to one another in

love. Honor one another above yourselves. Do you know what it means to be devoted? It means that

you're loving, that you're loyal, that everything that you do, you are thinking, how can I help

this person? How can I put this person above?

That doesn't mean that, oh, I'm just going to hide over here in the corner and pray for them

just on my own. Yes, pray for people. I'm not saying doing that, but how much more devoted are

you when you are with that person all the time and you're helping that person, you're honoring

that person because you are putting their needs above your own. Look what this, I love this one

because this is simple math. I'm not a good mathematician. I can get behind this kind of math.

This is an Ecclesiastes. He says, two people are better off than one for they can help each other

succeed.

If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But listen to this, but someone who falls

alone is in real trouble. Now that is simple math that we can all get behind. It is very, very

simple. Two people are much better off than one. I mean, think about the power of presence. Think

about anytime you're scared, you're walking in a dark room, you're scared to death if you're by

yourself. But if you've got a buddy or a friend with you, you're giggling, you're laughing,

you're scared.

It turns into joy. But imagine if you fall, but you are by yourself. Scripture says that we are

in real trouble. It's better to be together. Next verse says this. This is in Proverbs 27.

He says, never abandon a friend, either yours or your father's. When disaster strikes,

you won't have to ask your brother for assistance because it's better to go to a neighbor than to

a brother who lives far away. Now this one's kind of close to me because I grew up in Nacogdoches,

most of my family is there. Most of my family is in Northeast Houston. That's far away,

but I'm living life here in Sugar Land, Richmond area. And I can tell you, yes, I can call my

family, but I have friends who live right down the street who can help. I have a friend who lives

just around the corner who can come and pray with me or guide me or give me wisdom.

It is so, family is great, but it is so critical in our lives when we have friends who are right

there who can help us. And I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell

you, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you,

be with us and pray with us and encourage us and challenge us. And here's the last verse that I

want to share with you guys on this topic. This is in Proverbs 27, just a little bit later. He says,

as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Now we're going to get into this

specifically a little bit later, but think about how iron sharpens iron and a friend sharpens a

friend. I mean, who watching today does not want to be better? Maybe you're good at certain things,

but you really want to get better in other areas of your life.

Why not surround yourselves with people who are challenging you, who are encouraging you,

who are lifting you up when you fall? Because here's the truth of it.

Even if you think you've got it all figured out, which I'm sure we can ask your spouse,

whether you got it all figured out or maybe a close friend or a coworker,

even if you think that, why wouldn't you want to get better? And here's the truth of it.

We have a very real enemy who is very good at deceiving us, who is never taking a day off.

And we always have to get better. And we always have to get better.

If we want to go into battle every single day, why would we want to go at it alone?

Why wouldn't we want to have a friend with us? Okay. Now we've gone through those scriptures

and I really want to give you guys four amazing reasons for good reasons why we need to surround

ourselves with good friends. And the first one we've already talked about. Okay. First one is

this. You're human. You are a human person who was created for community. Like I said earlier,

we serve a community God who created us. We serve a community God who created us.

Who wired us to be around people who said it is not good that we are alone, but we were made

for community. So a first reason that you need friends because you were created to have friends.

Here's the second one. I love this one. Friendship is the highest happiness. Think about that

quote for a second. Friendship is the highest happiness. Now here's what I'm realizing. I'm

going to turn 40 this year. Don't tell anybody, but I'm turning 40 this year.

And what I've realized in my life and my experience is that things get old.

Things get tired. I don't play with the same things that I played with when I was in my 20s

or my teens. I get bored with those things. Yes, some movies are great, but if you watch them every

day, they get boring real quick. But what I've also realized is that I've been friends with the

same people for years and years and years. And sure, while some of them get on my nerves from

time to time, I love these people. I love being around them. I love being around them. I love

these people. And look at this quote by C.S. Lewis. He was a brilliant mind in England in the

mid-20th century. He says this, friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me,

it is the chief happiness of life. Because yes, we have experiences that are great and we have

great memories. How much greater are those memories when you share them with somebody?

I love going to the movies and I've been to a movie theater by myself. And when a funny part

happens, I've literally looked.

It's kind of awkward, you know, but when you've got somebody with you watching a movie,

how much more is that experience? Like, oh my gosh, all the Spider-Mans are in this movie.

Spoiler alert, right? But it's great to be surrounded with friends because they are truly

the greatest good that we could have in this world. Okay, that was the second reason. Third

reason is this. I'm going to be completely blunt and honest with you. You cannot make it alone.

Okay, just this isn't a challenge. This isn't trying to tell you to isolate and

I'm going to prove Marshall wrong. No, no, no, no. Don't do that because you will not make it.

Life happens. Struggles happen. Sadness, anger, bitterness, betrayal, all that happens. Like I

said earlier, our enemy never takes a day off. He is constantly trying to trip us up,

constantly trying to deceive us and lie to us. And he's really good at it. He's been lying for

a long time. He's been lying to you for a long time, trying to trip you up. Why would we want

to do that? Why would we want to do that? Why would we want to do that? Why would we want to do that?

I want to share this verse out of Hebrews. This is what Hebrews 3 says. It says,

but encourage one another daily as long as it is called the day so that none of you may be hardened

by sin's deceitfulness. And I just got to tell you guys that, listen, we need to be in each

other's lives every single day. Check on each other, encourage each other, challenge one another,

see how everyone is doing. Because those stats that I read earlier are very,

very real and they just seem to be increasing. So make sure that you're encouraging your friends

daily. Make sure you're checking on them and making sure that they're okay. Because again,

that's not just us trying to be better humanitarians. God commanded this. He didn't

just say, hey, yeah, have you got time? No, he said, encourage each other daily. Be in each

other's lives because that is a way to, you're not going to make it alone. You're not going to

make it alone. I don't know how else to say it. Here's the fourth thing. Okay. Fourth thing of

why you need good friends.

Friendship can split our pain in half. When you're going through stuff, when you lose a loved one,

or you're dealing with a bout of depression, or you've got some bad news from the doctor,

or your marriage is in trouble, when you have people around you, doesn't it just seem a little

more comforting to get through that trial or that whatever situation that you're in,

that you are surrounded by people who are constantly just reminding you of truth,

reminding you of, you know what? God is bigger than this.

God will get you through this. God has the best plans for you. God is here for you. God has put

us in your life. I can't tell you how many times I've gone through some bad stuff, even just the

last two years. I mean, I felt like some of those, I was living the life of Job where I've lost

everything. Everything seemed like a blur. And if it wasn't for my small group, if it wasn't for the

friends in my life, I don't think I would have made it through it. Our friends can really split

that pain in half. And here's what Paul tells us to do. He tells us to split that pain in half.

Share each other's burdens and in this way, obey the law of Christ. Share each other's burdens and

in this way, obey the law of Christ. What was the second commandment that Christ gave us?

Love people. How can you love people unless we are sharing their burdens, being with them? Because

listen, you've been through pain and you know what it's like, and you can help other people.

And while other people have been through pain, they can help you where you currently are in

your pain. It is an incredible system that God has created. This thing called,

community, that we can come alongside each other, share each other's burdens so that we don't think

we're going through all this by ourselves, because that's what Satan wants. Remember,

he wants to divide us. He wants us. He wants you to think you're doing this on your own. There's

no way you can get through it. But God would have a say. Look at the army of Christ followers that I

have. Look at this group of people who is around you, who is getting you through this mess. So

we all have established, why do we need good friends? Why do we need good friends? Why do we need good

friends? Here's the million dollar question for today. Who needs to be our friend? Now it's pretty

simple. Okay. Scripture is very clear about this. And I want to give you a verse that is very,

very simple. Very, very clear. This is in Proverbs 13. This is my favorite verse. When it comes to

friendship, it says this, walk with the wise and become wise for a companion of fools suffers harm.

Now look at that verse for a second. You hang out with wise people,

you become wise. But if you hang out with dumb people, it doesn't say you're going to be dumb.

It means that you can suffer harm. A foolish person will bring harm around you or upon you.

Why would we want that? So we have to really take a second and think about this. I'm going to even

make it more clear to you. Okay. Now as the world's opening back up, we are able to go into stadiums

again. We're able to go to concerts. We're able to go to movie theaters. The rodeo is coming back

to Houston. Clap emoji if you're in the Houston area. Can't wait to see you there.

All that that's going on. Now we all know what those sound like, right? I just went to Monster

Jam a couple weeks ago and it's loud. Not just the trucks. I'm talking about all the people and we

all know what crowd noise sounds like. Crowd noise is a bunch of people talking that you can't really

understand what they're saying. But when you're with your friend, who can you hear the clearest?

Who can you hear the loudest? It's the person who's closest to you. The person who's closest

to you can influence you the most.

Leading you to your seat, whether they're leading you to the next attraction or whatever you're

doing. You follow the person whose voice you can hear the loudest. So think about that in our lives.

Who in your life can you hear the loudest? Who is the most clear person? Who's that person who's

right next to you? You're ride or die. That person is going to have the biggest influence. And I want

us to ask a couple questions. Okay. I want us to figure out who that person is. And I want us to

ask some questions because it is critical.

It is critical about who that person is in your life. Here's who needs to, here's some questions

that we need to ask. Okay. First is this. Are they a good influence on you? Is the person who's closest

to you a good influence on you? Are they helping you make wise decisions? Are they helping you in

your marriage? Are they helping you in your parenting? Are they pointing you towards Jesus?

Are they getting you closer to God? Ask that first question. Are they a good influence on you? Second

is this. Do they give as much as they take? Are they giving as much as they take? Are they giving

as much as they take? Or are you in a one street relationship where you're always texting first?

You're always calling first. They always want to tell you about their day, but they don't give a

rip about your day. They always seem to have all the problems, but they don't really care to listen

to what's going on in your life. Do they give you? Do they build you up? Do they encourage you

as much as you encourage them? Okay. Do they influence you? Third one is this. Do they

celebrate you? We love to be celebrated. We love to be encouraged. We love to be encouraged. We love to be

lifted up. When you get that job promotion, or you get that date, or you get married, or you have

that baby, is that person who's closest to you, are they building you up? Or does there seem to be a

little bit of jealousy in there where they're constantly tearing you down? Oh yeah, well you

got a job, but man, government's going to take all your money now. Or oh, you had a baby. Well,

they throw up a lot. Or are they, oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you. I'm so glad you get to

take that trip. I'm so glad you got that vehicle. I love your new house.

Does this person build you up or do they tear you down? Okay. Do they celebrate you? And the last

question is this. Do you and your friend have similar values and goals? Here's the first value

and goal that I would ask. Do they want to become closer to Jesus? Do they want to get closer to God?

Are they encouraging you to do the same thing? Are they, again, helping you in your marriage? Or are

they tearing your spouse down? Or trying to break, divide things apart? Is that friend trying to

divide or trying to live in unity? Are they, okay, here's a tough question you got to ask. Are

they just your drinking buddy or your gossip gal or your gossip buddy or your drinking gal? You

know, whatever that looks like. Are they bringing you closer and closer to Jesus? Are they bringing

you closer in your marriage, in your friendships? Are they bringing you together or are they tearing

you apart? Because when you answer these questions, you need to know that if that, if any of those are

well, I listened to my pastor on the internet this week and they told me to get rid of you because

you're a terrible person in my life. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I am saying though

is that maybe that person isn't the closest to your ear. Maybe that person isn't the loudest

in your ear. Maybe they kind of blend into the white noise that's going on. They're still in

your life and that's fine. Jesus hung out with crazy people and you got crazy people in your

life. I encourage that all the time. But are they the closest? Who is the closest person in your life?

Here's the truth of it. Our friendships are critical, critical, critical in how we act with

our friends to furthering the kingdom of God. And I want to share this last verse with you because

it is vital and critical in how we act with our friendships. This is what it says in John 13.

Jesus is talking. He says this, a new command I give you, we've heard this, love one another as I

have loved you. So you must love one another. And here's, here's the kicker. By this, everyone will

know that you are loved. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved.

You are my disciples. If you love one another, think about that mission. Think about how critical

now our friendships are. When people look at us and we are saying that we're Christ followers

and they're looking at our lives and they're saying, that's how Christians treat each other.

That's how Christians do friendship. When they look at your relationships, do they say,

I want to go closer to God and I want a part of that. Or they say, no, thanks. I would rather

isolate because it is so critical. When we further the kingdom of God, we're going to be

God. How other people view Christ followers is how they're going to view God in a lot of instances.

So how is your relationship going? What is your relationship status with your friends? Do you

have those friends? Are you pursuing those friends? Because just like all the truths that

we said today, you can't make it alone. It's the highest happiness. We were created for community

and we can half our pain when we are surrounding ourselves with people. And as we close out this

series today, we're going to be talking about how we're going to view God in a lot of instances.

Okay. Here's what I'm going to ask you. A big, big question. Okay. What is your relationship

status with God? What is your relationship status with God? Do you feel isolated from God? Do you

feel like you can be vulnerable with God and actually talk to God? Do you feel like God loves

you? Do you feel like you can now have reconciliation in your life because God is in your life? Because

if you don't, hear me now, that you have a real God who is obsessed with you. He wants a

relationship with you, not just today, but for eternity. And that all we have to do to have that

relationship is simply say, God, Jesus, I've messed up. I've disobeyed you, but God, I want a

relationship with you. I trust what you did on the cross. I trust you for my eternity. And when we do

that, when we place our trust in who Jesus is and what he did on the cross, you immediately are

accepted. You're loved. You're forgiven. You're given purpose. You're given mission,

all like that, all in one moment. So what is your relationship status with God? Because once we

have that, so many more possibilities open up with so many more relationships that, yes, while we're

battling all these things like anxiety and depression and isolation, God has a real purpose

for our lives. And we now have a fighting chance to have true friendships. What is your relationship

status with God? Let me pray for us. God,

thank you so much for choosing us. And thank you for creating us for community.

We trust in everything that you're doing in our lives. God, please put people in our lives that

build us up and encourage us and people that we can encourage and that we can build up,

that it's not just a one-way street in our relationships, but God, rather,

it is a friendship. It is a true friendship that you have ordained, God, that you have put together,

that you have guided us to this place to have these people in our lives.

God, again, thank you for community. I pray that we will be bold in the times that we live in,

in reaching out to others and asking ourselves who is closest to us so that we might look a little

more like you. Jesus, we love you. In your name that we pray. Amen.