 Man, I just love proverbs, you know, if you don't maybe if you're a little bit older and you you hear a chapter like Proverbs 27 read, you know, you sit there and you like me. I'm just I'm just like man That's so true every single verse. You're like that is so true. That is so true So I mean even if you're younger and you don't really have experience with each one of these verses and proverbs You know, let me just tell you just just take it for what it says because it is true every single one of these Statements there's a lot of wisdom here in Proverbs not just Proverbs 27 But Proverbs 27 of course has a lot of things to say about friendship And that's what we're talking about for the last couple of weeks We're gonna finish up a two-part series this morning on friendship So last week we talked about being friendly. We talked about what it meant to Not just say, you know, hey, I have a lot of friends, right? I mean, oh, how many friends do you have? How many friends you have? I talked about last week what the Bible says about biblical friendliness and are you a friend? Is really the question and what is that mean according to the Bible? Not what the world tells us it means right because the world tells us something that's Completely different and that's actually what we're gonna talk about this morning We're gonna talk about you know, what the world says about friendship and I'm gonna look at three specific myths Of what the world says about friendship that do not agree with what the Bible says about Friendship so like once again, you know as we see in many other things According to the definition of friendship the world leads us astray. Okay, the world leads us astray. So look Coming to church here folks, you know, you're just gonna you're gonna have How can I put this you're gonna have an easier time coming to church here If you just realize that everything you've ever been taught is wrong Because a lot of things that you you hear preached here is gonna be like man. What? What well, but that's what the Bible says so you look what what lots of churches will do is when the Bible says Something different that's against the culture of the world lots of churches just won't talk about those things Because they don't want to offend the people in the chairs, right? But guess what? I don't care if I offend you if the Bible says this that's what we're gonna talk about All right, so you need to put yourself in the mindset that hey if the Bible says it That's what it is and it doesn't matter what you've been taught by your public school teacher by your uncle Whoever by your cousins. It doesn't matter. Okay, if the Bible says it we just need to accept it for Truth so just realize that most things you've been taught in this world are wrong by the world All right, so that's what we're gonna talk about this morning We're gonna talk about three myths about Friendship that the world teaches where the Bible teaches something completely different now Don't you think that friendship is something that you would want to get right? Don't you think when you're amongst especially when you're amongst the church of Bible believing Christians Don't you think that you should have a biblical view of friendship? Don't you think that you should forget what the world says and you should just accept what the Bible says because guess what? We're gonna talk about this this evening as well Once you get outside it doesn't matter what you think or what you do once you get outside of the Structure that God has set forth in the Bible you are going to have trouble You're gonna have trouble and it's not because I'm gonna give you trouble It's because it's just not designed to work that way and as a Bible-believing Christian if you don't follow the Bible You're just gonna have trouble in your life for many different reasons. Okay, so let's look at these three Points that the world teaches that the Bible does not the first one is this turn to Proverbs chapter 18 Proverbs chapter 18. Let's get right into it here Proverbs chapter 18. This is gonna be probably the hardest one for a lot of you to swallow this morning. All right Look at Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number 24 The Bible says this about friendship the Bible says a man This is our verse of the week last week. Okay a man that show it the man that have friends must show himself to be friendly That's what we talked about last week But now let's look at the second half of this verse where the Bible says and there is a friend that Stickest stick it closer than a brother Turn to Proverbs chapter 17 one verse back You ever notice how when the Bible is talking about especially like your siblings It seems to be pretty hard on your your siblings sometimes you ever noticed that Look at Proverbs 17 and verse 17. I'll give you a verse that exact example of that a friend love it at all times So like remember Proverbs is opposites, right? It tells you one thing that it says the opposite of that is this is as but this is the opposite, right? So the Bible says in Proverbs 17 17 a friend love it at all times and a brother is born for adversity So the first myth that I want to explain to you this morning is this myth You know in our life that family is always to be closer than friends You know that just because someone is related to you Means that they just need to be you know super close to you and they need to be just your best friend Just because they're related to you. All right, that's not what the Bible teaches about family Look and in the older you get the more you will see this play out Especially with siblings. Okay. Look the bottom line is It's logical and there's so many examples of this in the Bible. I mean think of turn to 1st Samuel chapter 17 Think of David's brothers David had seven other brothers David had seven other brothers David was the youngest three of David's eldest brothers Followed King Saul and went to war with him. Okay against the Philistines and look at 1st Samuel chapter 17 in verse number 26 And the Bible says and David spake to the men that stood by him saying what shall be done? So this is where Goliath is going out and he's challenging the the Children of Israel and he's he's insulting God and he's insulting their army and he's insulting their Lord and all this And here David comes from tending the sheep He goes to check on his older brothers by you know his dad's command and he goes down and he sees Goliath You know insulting not only the army and and the children of Israel, but God himself Right, and he goes up and he starts saying some things like why he basically is saying why is this allowed to happen? David starts saying in verse 26 and David spake to the men that stood by him saying What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and take it away the reproach from Israel the reproach means the embarrassment? The insult look he's just embarrassing them and they're all afraid of him right nobody would go out and fight him For who is this uncircumcised Philistine? So why was what was David's problem that he should defy the armies of the living God and The people answered him after this manner saying so shall it be done to the man that killed him So basically the people answered him and then who look at his brother's response to him So David basically comes out and he says why is this being allowed to happen this guy's? Insulting the army and you're the army. He's talking to the army you are the army of the living God he's like God your God's army He's like why what in the world and? His brother chastises him for this right and Eliab his eldest brother heard what he spake on him and the libs anger was kindled against David And he said why came as thou down hither and with whom as thou left those few sheep in the wilderness I know thy pride and I naughtiness of thy heart for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle No, he didn't come down to see the battle he came down I mean he ended up fixing the problem is what he ended up doing but his brother was mad at him His brother was upset at him Think of Jacob Jacob and Esau turn to Genesis chapter 27 and verse 41 Genesis 27 Think of Jacob and Esau Two brothers in the Bible, right? I mean yeah, okay Jacob did some things wrong. He ripped off his brother Jacob was sneaky, but look at what it says in Genesis 27 verse 41. These are brothers These are brothers. Let's see if a brother is born for adversity Jacob goes and he tricks Esau out of his birthright, you know Esau was was famished and you know Would you've given up your birthright and the hike yesterday? That's a good question I didn't have that in my notes, but you know, I think some of you probably would have from the looks on your faces Anyway side note Look at Genesis 27 verse 41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart The days of mourning for my father are at hand and then I will slay my brother Jacob So he took away his birthright and then he got the blessing as well. He tricked his dad So look, I mean Esau wanted to kill Jacob. He wanted to kill his own brother All right. Think of Joseph and his brothers turn to Genesis 37. I Mean, look, there's not a I mean, there's a lot of adversity Amongst siblings in the Bible look at Genesis 37 look at verse number one Genesis 37 and verse number one and Jacob dwelt in the land where and his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan These are the generations of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren with his brothers And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpa his father's wives and Joseph's brought onto his father Their evil report now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children Jacob because he was the son of his old age And he made him a coat of many colors and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren They hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. All right. So look they hated they hated Joseph All right, his brothers hated him. They literally tried to kill him then they sold him into slavery I mean look they hated him They hate him. They wanted to kill him. No, look, there's a lot of things here Well, like first of all First of all, this is a perfect example Like of why like you shouldn't marry multiple wives, right? Because it caused a lot of problems amongst the brothers and sisters Right, I mean it was a it was a terrible thing that happened You know there was a lot of because there was always a favorite wife and one wife that was hated of the other wives and all This kind of stuff here's all this contention and that transferred to the children But the biggest thing here is look and let me just go off on a side note here Favoritism amongst children will destroy your children's relationship with each other Okay, if you faith if you favor one child over the other you say oh, well, you know, I just like her better I like him better because he's just better. He's a better kid He listens better and all these types of things when you're dead and gone that will cause problems with those kids Yeah, I've seen this like you see it in the Bible right here. I've seen this played out in real life several times in real life So look you must Not show favoritism to your children if you do one thing for one child You do that for the other child as well if you provide something for them whether it be, you know some sort of Support or whatever you give that to all your children you use that as a methodology for how you're going to raise your children You're saying well, I can't you know afford to support all my children You find a way where you can do it all the same for all your kids because you will cause massive problems Look brothers don't have to be an adversity towards each other, but it happens a lot Okay, there's many examples of this in the Bible. I just read you a few But you know it will happen with your family as well And this is a perfect example of how you could make it happen if you favor one child You know he loved him more than all his other brethren and they hated him. I mean have a nice day. I Mean you just I mean you just ruined your children's relationship with each other I mean when Jacob was stood in front of Pharaoh. Yeah, I mean he about his life his whole life He said, you know, he's got all these kids that are fighting and and they're going off and doing all these stupid things He's just like all the days of my life have been evil You know, so be careful that you don't favor your children. That's just a side note. All right, but look You don't let's get back to friendship versus family. You don't choose your family Okay, that's the thing people grow up. Here's what happens people grow up and they grow apart It's very very common. Okay, look two huge factors of this Let's just look at it pragmatically two huge factors of this is number one who you marry Who people marry right marriage go to Luke chapter 12? marriage is a huge divider of people Who you marry is a huge deal. Look at Luke chapter 12 and verse number 53 It's very interesting in Luke chapter 12 verse number 53 because the Bible here is talking about Family being divided against each other for the cause of Christ. Okay, but look at what? You know, let's pay attention to one of the main reasons in Luke chapter 12 verse number 53 for that division Look at look at what the Bible says the father shall be divided against the son Okay, father against son the son against the father the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother Okay, so it says like literally parents are going to be separated from their children over the cause of Christ Like a believer may have to separate from their parents or parents from their children because of Christ Okay, look, I mean that's pretty big But look what it says next but the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law And the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. There's the marriage problem, right? So look You when you get married here's the problem when you get married you are to be loyal to your life You are to be loyal to your husband. You are to become one flesh The Bible says you are not to get married to your husband and still be loyal to your parents Okay, and let me go off again Don't be one of these people that gets married and then every time you have an argument with your husband You call mommy You will destroy your marriage You will destroy your marriage if every time you get an argument with your wife You call your mom and dad and tell them how terrible your wife is you will ruin your marriage Because you're betraying your wife you betraying your husband because guess what? You and your wife will make up next week and everything will be fine and your parents will grow to hate your spouse You keep your debates or whatever it is that you have within your marriage in your marriage This is what the Bible says. I'm not talking about asking counsel or anything like that But don't go throwing your spouse under the bus At every chance that you get Because I mean you're betraying your spouse. So look marriage in general getting back to the sermon marriage divides People it divides siblings. I mean who's ever talked about you know their brother-in-law that you know They can't believe their sister married or their sister-in-law that they can't but I mean it's common People marry people that have other families that came from different situations that have different beliefs And then what happens is is point number two you raise your kids different as You raise your kids different from your siblings from your brothers and sisters that will also divide you Because look you're sitting in this church You're part of an extreme minority number one. You're saved number two You're saved and you're in a Bible preaching church. You're like point zero zero zero zero one percent of the population Odds are every single one of your brothers and sisters are not in a Bible preaching church like this And they're not going to tell you how you know what the Bible says about raising your kids and people get pretty Territorial when it comes to how you raise your kids and people get pretty bold when they think that you're not raising your kids Like they think you should Right so that's going to cause contention that's going to cause division amongst that's why the Bible talks about Brothers this way. All right because look I mean the Bible is it's pragmatic. It's how it works All right Christ is going to divide people and that is going to divide families Right. Well, I mean the ideal situation is that your family would just all be completely Homogeneous Meaning all the same don't get freaked out by the word homo All right all the same Turn to Romans one. No, I'm just kidding All right But my point is is that the ideal situation that one of the goals of my life is That my children would be raised the same that they they grow up in a Bible preaching church that they marry someone from a Bible Preaching church and we do have a homogeneous family We do have a family with all the same Bible believing culture That's a good goal, but it doesn't exist much. So if you can accomplish that goal from yourself down Good job. That's one of the goals of this church That's one of the goals of you know my goal for your family That's you know my hope for your family is that no matter what situation you came from That you could push forward into your family into your children this same common culture But it's possible That it might not happen and that you might have to separate from a brother or a sister because so just because they're related to you Doesn't mean that it's just like friends forever Okay So look You know Typically people choose their friends By the culture that they live right you don't choose your family. This is why the Bible talks about this right so Look at the second myth. Let's look at the second myth the second myth that the world teaches that the Bible does not Is this is that? Friends should support you no matter what? You should stand next to your friend No matter what or you're not a good friend the Bible doesn't teach that you're like what? Isn't I mean look I Mean think about these guys we met out soul winning just a couple days ago. Who's I with I think I was a brother Frank Met these guys and they're like Just be true to yourself man, bro. I mean you're asking them like what do you got to do to get to heaven? They're like just be true to yourself in your buddies, bro. I Mean first of all, I mean I'm really I messed up. I told brother Frank I messed up I should have stayed and talked to them longer Because I wanted to get more material. I mean there's sermons there, right? I'm sitting there and I'm just like you know look it's just like you know these parents that they raised their kids and like oh Oh, you know my son's running around and he likes pink lipstick. He likes to put it on. It's just be free It's what he oh do we have to encourage him into whatever he does what? It's not what the Bible teaches the Bible teaches that there's a right way and a wrong way. It's not be true to yourself, bro Look be true to yourself, bro, and burn in hell The Bible doesn't say be true to yourself, dude It's not what the Bible says the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ You know don't sit there and you know do drugs and get high and say stupid things That's just gonna get you to hell. I mean the Bible teaches something very Specific and it's just the same with friendship. You are not to support your friends no matter what? No matter what they do the Bible says look Look at your your Proverbs 27 verse 6. It says faithful are the wounds of a friend. I Mean it says that your friend might wound you But it says that those wounds are faithful Right, I mean there are times that your friends should not support you If your friends are your friends according to the Bible There's times when you decide that I'm gonna be true to myself and what I want where my biblical friends should not support that There's times when you shouldn't support people if you have a brother or sister who's doing the wrong thing You should not support it. I Mean faithful are the wounds It doesn't say faithful are you know do whatever you want man. That's not a wound Look there there are times if you have faithful friends that that they should wound you You see what I'm saying there look is Friends look should friends first of all shouldn't entice you to sin Friends shouldn't support you in sin and They shouldn't entice you to sin You know there goes the worldly idea of your drinking buddies right there, right? I Mean look friends. I mean The whole idea of drinking buddies is is that those that's not friendship That's people supporting each other in sin. That's people validating each other in sin. How many friendships? Do you know that I mean that's all people have is friendships like that where they just support each other in sin That is not biblical friendship period. I mean Not only should you not be around sin, but you know You don't want people. I mean around you sinning period Well, let's think of an example in church in church something that happens all the time very common in churches especially as churches grow and get bigger is friends like real biblical friends They get too comfortable with each other and they start gossiping About the other people. That's a huge problem in churches I was actually a little surprised how big of a problem it is in churches, but look Whenever you feel comfortable here, here's the here's the rule, right? Here's the measuring stick whenever you feel comfortable enough around other people to sin in front of them you have crossed a line and I mean Gossip is a sin Where you're getting together with friends and the people that aren't there you're talking trash or whatever it is You know that is a sin turn it back to Proverbs 27 Look at verse number 17 and look a real friend wouldn't entice you to engage in gossip Somebody that's being a real friend would not entice you to engage in something like that. It goes with all sin. All right Any friend that is trying to entice you into sinning that is not a person that is being friendly towards you Okay, look at Proverbs 7 27 and verse number 17 iron sharpeneth iron So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend look a friend should make you better a Real friend should make you better not worse right look at Proverbs 16. I Mean the Bible says people that gossip I mean this is why gossip is so bad But look look at Proverbs 16 and verse number 28 The Bible says this about gossip a forward man So a strife and a whisperer Separated chief friends look so the Bible says that if you have a bunch of friends that get together and you're just like Gossiping and just trashing and just railing on people when you are getting together with this little circle of friends Or whatever it is that you have look there's nothing wrong with having friends But when you start engaging in sin like this the Bible says you will separate friends The Bible says you will destroy friendships So I mean look It creeps in so be aware of it and it does a lot of damage right? I mean look a friend a friend is going to be somebody that tells you what you need to hear Not what you want to hear right? I mean so if you need to hear something, you know, that's kind of hard That's kind of tough. It's not really what you want to hear Right. I mean that's a friend If you get biblical advice, that's not really what you want here because many times the right road is not the easy road Many times the biblical road is not look it doesn't at least appear to be at the time Especially the easy road it will turn out to be the best road every time but at the time Personally it probably doesn't look to be the easy road So if you have somebody telling you hey, you got to just do this. This is what the Bible says. That's a faithful friend Even if it wounds you you see what I'm saying. So look you're not to just support your friend no matter what? This is what the Bible says. All right Friends are to make friends better look at Proverbs 27 and verse 9 Proverbs 27 and verse number 9 from the verse chapter. We just read ointment and perfume rejoice the heart So doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel hearty counsel means look He's probably saying something right there. That's like there's some meat in what he's saying right hearty counsel Right. I mean even even like you know Outhiking when it's like, you know, I just really want to take raise like look. We just can't take a break right now We got to keep going. We're almost there. We just got it. That's hearty counsel. Okay. That's a friend telling you that Okay, somebody's gonna tell you sit down cramp up You know Just take it easy You know, that's that's not a friend in in situations if you need to be told something That's not necessarily what you want to hear at the time. That's you know, that's not hearty counsel All right, so a friend is someone that will tell you what you need to hear not what you want to hear. All right Third point a third point is this Third point that the world teaches that the Bible does not is this and you're gonna like, you know Just brace yourself. All right The Bible teaches that the world doesn't the buy the world teaches that friends are forever You're like what? Friends aren't forever But we have this necklaces, bro It's like we're like, you know, it says BFFs Best friends forever we put them together and they close Look, I mean look it's possible. It's possible that friends could last forever. I'm not saying it's not possible Okay, but look many times It's not the case Because of the reason a lot of the reasons we just talked about but look people change Did you know that? People change We talked about people get married People have kids right people move away But look here's the thing Especially in the Christian life Here's the big one people go down different paths In their life Okay, look, I'm you know, we're up here and we're reading the Bible and we're preaching the Bible and you know We want to get better every day, but guess what? Sometimes people take a path for the better and sometimes people take a path that's not for the better So what if you have two friends and One friend takes a path for the better Because I mean they're just reading the Bible And they're just listening to the preaching and they're just like I want to get better and better And I want to use this one life that I have for the best and you have one friend It's like me and They just kind of go down this road that's opposite because look They're both going to heaven One person is trying to utilize this life on earth and one person's not It's a decision It's a personal decision. So like look what if you have a friend that backslides That gets out of church that gets into sin. You're not just to follow them into that So I mean You give them counsel, right? You're gonna give them some of that hearty counsel You give them some faithful wounds But to no avail you say that'll never happen it happens It happens all the time turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 Look it happens to people it happens to saved people all the time I'm sorry to report it to you. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 11 The Bible says but I have written unto you not to keep company If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or rail or a drunkard or an extortioner With such in one know not to eat. So look There's gonna come a point Or if you have a brother or a sister and you've given them hearty counsel and you've given them, you know Faithful wounds and they keep continuing in these types of sins Look the same model that applies to the church applies to your life Because it says earlier in the chapter that sins like this sin in general a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump That's the model the model look the methodology that the Bible tells us here for the church is the same for your life You can't just have a friend that is into all this stuff and just pretend that it's not going on At some point the Bible says that you are not to keep company You know what that means? You are not to hang out with them You are not to be around them You are not to have your family around them But look I mean I've said this a million times. I'll say it again We're not on a hair trigger to throw people out of a church You shouldn't be in a hair trigger to throw people out of your life But at the end of the day If you've given hearty counsel if you've given faithful wounds, this is the path that the Bible says like man That's harsh. This is my friend Does it say unless there you have a necklace that's got the thing and the No, it doesn't look so look this is like one of those things you probably won't hear a lot Right. This is one of those things where it's like, you know I don't really like to hear this type of stuff because you know, that's uncomfortable That's uncomfortable to not be friends with somebody like that I got a friend who's back-slidden and they call me all the time and that's an awkward conversation to say look man I just got a you know, I've told you I've told you I've told you I've told you I just can't have you around me and my family right now when you're into this stuff. We got to separate from you That's an awkward conversation How many conversations have you had like that in your life? You say none. Well, you're probably gonna have to have some Because if you're saved especially you men If you're saved and you're looking after your family like you should You're gonna have to have conversations like this. You're like Become a man It's that simple I've had a lot of conversations like this It's your duty to do this to protect Your family to protect from that leaven because that leaven will leaven your family your church Christ's church. That's why he gives us these rules, right? So look It's sad to think about I mean it's sad to think about those types of things But look the Bible must be our final authority and you know, that's just the bottom line, right? So like look conclusion We want to be friendly right you want to be a good friend that means being friendly that means actually look that means You know, let's talk about last week that means being friendly that means showing action Right showing action towards your friend that is you know many times sacrificial action think about Jonathan with David Right, we talked about Jonathan with David Jonathan literally risked his life to help David Right and look Jonathan was a good friend. He risked his life for his friend It would have been much easier to just go with the flow of leadership in his dad's leadership and shun David It would have been much easier, but no David or you know, Jonathan showed that friendliness towards David He gave his friend godly support and look David returned the favor He returned the friendliness even after Jonathan was dead. He adopted Jonathan's son He showed that Friendliness back turned to John chapter 15 And look ultimately you want to be a really good friend You want to be like a super good friend? I say this out soul winning all the time I don't know how many times it's true when I say it, but you know, that's why I always say might Right, but look at John 15 in verse number 13 The Bible says greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends So look what Jonathan was doing was just being biblical towards David. He was ready to just sacrifice his life for his friend I mean are you ready to be that friendly to a friend? We would literally lay down your life For your friend. I mean that's what the Bible says you should do Right if you're friendly the Bible says that All right, so that's I mean that's some pretty big sacrifice right there So if you are going to be the ultimate friend, that's what it takes to be willing to lay down your life for your friends All right, imagine if we had a bunch of friends like that in this church We would all just lay down our lives for each other. I mean how awesome would that be? That's some friendliness right there Right now just to close let me talk a little bit about something that I don't it's just been coming up a lot I think it's because What's been going on in the country and in the world and all this when we talk about this idea? This idea of loneliness All right, because you just constantly hearing about this now people are just lonely You know everybody's locked up in their house and everyone's afraid to go anywhere and all this and people are lonely Right, so look there's a real problem And I was actually shocked when I started looking into this But there's a real problem in this country at least with people being lonely. Did you know that? I mean it's a huge issue Look at a recent study shows a trend Insignia's 2018 loneliness survey Listen to this the results found that nearly 50% of Americans Said that they sometimes or always felt alone. Can you imagine? 50% half of the people in this country when taking a survey say that they sometimes or always feel alone That's bad. I Mean look The world has an answer for this by the way the article continues and it says inside the brain dynamics Laboratory at the University of Chicago Stephanie I can't pronounce her last name hooks up subjects to electrodes to measure brain activity and since May 2017 She's been conducting clinical trials seeking the answer to loneliness in a pill form This is serious This is someone that's trying to solve the idea of loneliness with a pill All right So what is the answer? Treatments such as oxy cotton in conjunction with psychotherapy could help patients the study finds so Where do I begin? First of all, you know you just pretty much have to shun all worldly wisdom at this point Do I need to explain? I mean do I need to convince you anymore on that? I mean look folks loneliness assign is that what loneliness is a sign that something is wrong All right, and heroin is not the answer Okay, I mean that's I mean this is a person that's probably gone to school for like at least 10 years and Probably has 20 or 30 years of experience in the world of psychology or whatever and they're like, you know what? We think that heroin will help people not be lonely What in the world? Turn to Genesis chapter 2. Let's look at what God says Turn to Genesis chapter 2 in verse number 18 You know what the main reason that God invented marriage? You know what the main reason that God invented marriage was I'm gonna show you look at the first thing God says and Marriage is the answer right God says in Genesis 2 18. He says and the Lord God said it is not good That the man should be alone. Look if you're lonely. It's not good It's not good that the man should be alone. So what what's God's answer? I will make and help meet for him He says and he makes he makes the woman right by and help meet that doesn't mean a helpmate. It means a help that is Proper for him. I will make a help for him. Look I help look so what so what so he won't be alone And then he won't be lonely You know what here? Let me give you some personal insight. You know what I hate being alone. I Do not like being alone. I Just I mean I'm not afraid of the dark or anything. It's just like I don't like it. I don't like being alone That's why when I go hiking, you know, we there's 10 people there. I don't like going by myself Like I like going with my kids. I like doing this. Look the main reason that since I was like 12 years old I wanted to get married. I Wanted to get married since I was just a little kid. I can remember I can remember like praying that God would send me A wife. I want to just meet someone that I could get married to because look here's the thing Marriage it's it marriage is kind of like hey want to hang out forever That's kind of what marriage is like. That's what God invented it for It's like hey want to be friends forever Like true like you know necklace. We don't even need the necklaces Right Look, I love I love hanging out with my wife. I love doing it. I love she likes it, but I like it I'm in charge so she has to go. That's right So you say you know look you need to protect that okay, you need to protect that what have we looked at today Friendships grow apart right friendships can grow apart Brothers and sisters can grow apart Can I'm going to show you another genius thing about the Bible about what God defines in marriage So you say can't can't husbands and wives grow apart. Yeah, they can Should they not if they follow God's plan We're going to talk about this in detail tonight if you're married bring your husband or wife tonight Because we're going to talk about this in detail tonight, but here's the thing Here's the thing if you have two boats floating on the ocean, okay? Are they going to stay together? It's kind of like friendship right friends Waves they kind of float apart pretty soon Maybe one boat just decides to go this way the other one goes this way Those are friends that just that's not going to last forever. What are the odds the two boats floating on the ocean? That you know are not under power are going to just stay together. They're not going to stay together Right, but here's the thing That's why in marriage one was designed to lead the other The boats in marriage are supposed to be tied together Right the boats are tied together because one is designed to lead the other and One Both but one mainly who's leading is under power now you have a boat that's under power and he's leading He's tied to the other boat now. What are the odds those boats will ever come apart never So you know what your your tie is your marriage and the man must lead in the marriage We're going to talk about that tonight or there will be serious consequences the boats could float apart and The man that boat must be under power and it must be heading in this direction You see and then they will never separate So look there is no reason to feel alone in this life Okay, it's not what the Bible says friendship is a great thing, but it must be a biblical friendship Turn to Psalm chapter 23 And you say but man just nobody likes me well Here's the thing if nobody likes you and you can't even get people in church to be your friend. There's still good news for you There's still good news for you. Look at Psalm chapter 23 verse number four the Bible says this Yay, though. I walked through the valley of the shadow of death. I Will fear no evil. Maybe that's where we were yesterday. Some of you probably thought that For thou art with me my rod and my staff they comfort me The but look the Bible says here that no matter what your situation is as a saved believer you are never alone Okay, you are never alone turn to Matthew chapter 12 or Matthew chapter 10. I'm sorry You are never look it's kind of like the it's I mean there's all this good news Right, you should keep coming to church because there's all this good news Like, you know, you're part of the first resurrection no matter what if you're saved, you know, you're gonna rule and reign with Christ That's really good news Right. I don't care. What's going on in your life. I don't care. What's happening at work. What's happening at home You're gonna be part of the first resurrection no matter what Period look at Matthew chapter 10. It gets even better and say things go completely south Say things go. I mean what's completely south this This is completely south All right, when people are literally torturing you and killing you things have gone completely wrong on your life on this earth All right, but guess what guess what look at Matthew chapter 10 in verse 19 The Bible says but when they deliver you up Take no thought or what you shall speak for it She'll be giving you in that same hour what you shall speak Even if it gets to the point on this earth where it goes as wrong as it can go and they're literally killing you and Torturing you God says, you know what at that point don't even worry about speaking. I will speak for you Period Think about Steven and all the martyrs in that book Think about all the wonderful Beautiful words they looked on Steven. They said he looked like an angel It's because God was with him right there and he gave him the words to say what God didn't have to design it that way It's like if somebody's killing you and they're gonna kill you. I mean, it's gonna be over in a few hours Right, you're gonna see God in a few hours You're gonna be with Christ in a few hours, but God says no, I will not even leave you alone for those few hours I Will be right there and when it comes to the point where you have no physical strength And you have no control over your mind or what you're gonna say I will take it over for you and I will give you the words for you no matter what God is always with us You should never be lonely on this earth ever God is always with us. Look you should have a lot of friends and You guys in this church, you're gonna have a lot of friends you gals in this church You're gonna have a lot of friends keep it biblical stay in the biblical model, but at the end of the day If everybody hates you God is still gonna never leave you alone. You understand? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer