Transcript for:
Romans 16:1,16 -Friends- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2023-12-17

Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 16 verses 1 through 16 this morning. Romans chapter 16 verses 1 through 16. Would you please stand with me as we read God's Holy Word together. I commend unto you Phoebe our sister which is a servant of the church which is at Serentia that you receive her in the Lord as become a saint and that you assist her in whatsoever business she is need of you for she has been a secure of many and of myself also greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus who have for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles likewise greet the church that is in their house salute my well-beloved Epinaeus who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ greet Mary who bestowed much labor on us salute Andronicus and Junia my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the Apostles who also were in Christ before me greet Amplius my beloved in the Lord salute Urbain and our helper in Christ and Astaticus my brother salute Apalis approved in Christ salute them which are of Aristobulus household salute Herodian my kinsmen greet them that be of the household of Narcissus which are in the Lord salute Tryphena and Tryphosa who labor in the Lord salute the beloved Persis which labors much in the Lord salute Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine salute Asencraicus Philegian Hermas Petrobus Hermes and the brethren which are with them salute Philogos and Julia Nereus and his sister and Olympus and all the Saints which are with them salute one another with a holy kiss the churches of Christ salute you father thank you so much for your holy word thank you for the friends that we make during our trek Lord during our time in this life Lord thank you for the many Christians that we met in the churches we've been a part of in Bible studies and Sunday schools over the years Lord some have already gone home to be with you but Lord many of these relationships are far deeper far richer than even our own family relationships Lord and we cherish these and the Apostle Paul as he's as he's showing us here Lord 36 different friends he's addressing as he's writing from Corinth unto those in Rome and Lord along the way we make a lot of enemies but Lord we make even more friends and we pray that you would bless these relationships you bless our time in your word today that the world would know we're Christians because of our love Lord in Jesus name we pray amen would you please be seated we as Christians have the opportunity to experience friendship friendship with one another like no other the relationships that we form as Christians are unique they're unlike anything that the world can muster up you know we have friends that come and go throughout life but many of the people that we've met since we're Christians and as Christians we're able to laugh and cry and and you know be be intimate if you will in a sense of fellowship and communion and a relationship with Jesus that that that the world just can't even even come close to Jesus said in John 1334 a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another so the key for us is the agape love the love of the spirit that God gives each of us that we're able to overlook we're able to we're able to look at 1st Corinthians 13 and see a description of love there but we're able to look so many false so many things that go on and we're able to love it with a greater purity it with the help of the Holy Spirit rather than being takers and selfish we have the mind of Christ the heart of Christ to be givers to be sacrificial to you know love is Christ love as he's teaching us as he continues to teach us how to love so it's love that unites us as Christians and allows us to be friends but Paul also we need to balance Paul also had many enemies just as Jesus had enemies it's okay to have enemies in fact it's a it's a good moniker it's a good kind of a kind of a thing in your life that you're not a man-pleaser that you're not a person that has no enemies at all because that would mean that you know that you know you're very compliant with the world and that you just go with the flow and and you just I mean it's either love Jesus or you don't you're there st. you're in a you're gathering with them or scattering abroad and so friendship with the world is enmity with God you know you're an enemy of God you can't have it both ways you can't have a Facebook account one for your Christian friends and one for your worldly friends you're gonna get caught you're gonna wind up posting something that you did at the bar last night on your Christian post and the Christians are gonna say oh man that that's a bummer and then you're gonna post some songs you sang and some praise and worship at church on your on your bar a bar buddy thing and they're not gonna like it either so there's no in-betweeners you're either pregnant or you're not and you're either a saint you're an ape either gathering with him you're scattering abroad you can't be a friend of the world so having enemies is okay Jesus promised us that we he we would have enemies he said in Luke 6 26 woe unto you when all men speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets so it's not a political race it's not gaining constituents it's not gaining Facebook friends where everyone speaks so well of you and you know it's good to have some enemies good to have some detractors some people that hate you and in my case you know the line is really long it's a really long line so if you don't like us just get in line you know that's been my attitude because it's not about pleasing man it's about pleasing Jesus and if we wanted a larger church we know the formula be a man pleaser live according to the world and you know just make the church very worldly and your church will grow but if you use words like sin or repentance or call people unto repentance if you preach prophecy and let people know that things are winding down that Jesus is returning which we look to be a very positive message his kingdom is coming others want to live blindly they want to live in you know with their heads down they want to mock you and I for proclaiming the good news that Jesus is coming and they want to look for a solution to keep the world going to keep this world system going a little bit longer because you know we've been enjoying this time of prosperity health wealth and and prosperity and so we make enemies in that way people don't like us they don't like it it's too negative it's too doom and gloom and that sort of thing so we understand the formula we understand what's going on we just refuse to be compliant with it and so we'd rather suffer a little while so that one day we hear the Lord say well done now good and faithful servants you're not unfaithful faithful servants you've been faithful over a few things I'm gonna make you rule over much I enter into the joy of the Lord that's what we yearn to hear the world is fickle they love you one day the next day they hate you and you'll find that out on Facebook if you ever say anything they don't like they'll attack you they'll jump all over you so if you were of the world so there's the key of or in the world we're in the world but not of the world so we have to be in the world here we're aliens we're pilgrims and sojourners passing through but this is where the mission field is and so we don't we don't implement what some have called friendship evangelism to the point of making friends with those in the world where we compromise the cross where we compromise the blood where we compromise the truth and simply you know bite our tongue and don't say anything because we are afraid that we might offend one of them you know and we don't try to fill the church with blatant adulterers I said that one first because you know what I'm gonna say next homosexuals you know lesbians gays transgenders all that we we don't care what you think it's what the Bible has to say we're not here to please you we're not here to appease you and your anger toward God we're here to tell the truth to love you and to remind you that Jesus loved you enough to die in your place now you have to negotiate with the Lord his his negotiation is complete surrender there's no middle ground there's no there's no washing your hands like Pontius Pilate said and Pilate did I'm innocent of this man's blood no you are guilty Pilate you made a decision there you're gonna be held accountable for what you've done so to you and I we're accountable for the gospel we're accountable for the Word of God we know the truth of God's Word we've heard the gospel over and over so you can't censor the Word of God you can't edit the Word of God so to you know be liked you know by the world and so you're watching a lot of the pastors their effort to be liked by the world their acceptance of homosexuality their acceptance of lesbianism their acceptance of transgenderism and such all of that is rooted in they want to be a friend of the world they want to be a friend of Black Rock and and not have the banks turn on them they want to be a part of the of the beast system and such and and I don't I don't and so no matter what kind of pressure leverage or what kind of whatever they're gonna try and do you know some in the tribulation period are going to be compelled to take the mark on the right hand of their forehead and we see innumerable multitude of people in Revelation 6 and 7 that refuse that mark of the beast and so it means death for them and but that's okay to be asked of the bodies to be present with the Lord and so there's no negotiating in that sense and I don't care what your social credit score or my social credit score is I don't care what they think any way shape or form you know in the state of Washington this past week Attorney General Ferguson you know was got what he wanted from the Supreme Court that we're not allowed to implement what's called conversion therapy upon children who are moving in a direction of you know transgenderism and so in the schools as you parents allow your kids in the school they're going to be groomed they're going to be approached they're going to be coerced if you will manipulate manipulated if you will to move in a direction of having their hormones changed and to have a very barbaric means of operations upon their bodies a disfigurement of bodies and the doctors and the people involved in this are getting incentives to do this and if you as a Christian teacher parent friend whatever even as parents your your your rights as parents are going to be greatly limited in the days and weeks to come in that in that this aberrant evil awful treatment of children is legislated to the point that you're not allowed to present Christ to them you're not allowed to try and get them to come to Jesus you recognize there's an emptiness there you recognize there's a void there that's they've been made aware of you recognize they're confused but you're not allowed to share the gospel with them so how tragic that is and so for you and I there won't be any backing down there won't be any capitulation to the world we it's these are non-negotiables I don't want to be liked by anybody in Satan's camp I they're not the kind of friends that I want to make so if you were of the world the world would love its own but because you're not of the world but I've chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you it's okay to be hated in Matthew 10 36 Jesus said a man's foe shall be they have his own household how many of us have problems in our family since we've become Christian or even before we became Christian but heightened as Christians at the holidays in many cases you know diametrically opposed to each other and very difficult mom's dad's you know children and such living lives of rebellion against God we don't we don't feel at home we don't feel like you know we're around people that really that we can really have fellowship with and so man's foe shall be they of his own household I remember when Kathy and I first got saved we were so on fire and zealous and such a transformation and change taking place in our life that our family members looking at us you know they some of them said I liked it better before you're a Christian you know you're too serious now you know people that drink they are uncomfortable around people that get sober they want drinking buddies and friends and stuff so the holidays is the time where people want to drink they want to forget their problems and they're very uncomfortable around you as a Christian because they're looking at their watch like when are they gonna leave when will the party start you know if they just get out of here you know then we could really start partying but they they really don't enjoy our company the darkness doesn't like fellowship with the light the light exposes the darkness so Paul had many enemies possibly even those of his own household for a Jew like Paul in the city of Tarsus that his hometown and such they would have a mock funeral and they would disinherit him and get rid of him and we we see very little evidence thereof quite possibly he was even married because he was a member of the Sanhedrin and one of the requirements to that of being married and a Pharisee affairs and such and so you know for him to become a Christian there were a lot of changes that took place as he left his old life and so we're instructed that we're to love Jesus more than we love our mother father son daughter that we need to love him more than our career more than our own life and Paul and giving up all those things he gained far more and part of what he gained was these 36 people here and this isn't an exhaustive list he met people and some of them he calls them your mother and mine you know Rufus and so great intimacy great great fellowship Jesus his own brothers didn't believe in him and yet Jesus could go over to Lazarus home where Mary and Martha Bethany and have meals with them and hang out with them and Jesus had a lot of friends he'd go over to Simon Peter's mother-in-law's house at Capernaum and have meals and such and so even though his own brothers didn't believe in Jesus until after the resurrection Jesus had great fellowship with many many people that came to know him as their Lord and Savior and so Paul had many friends 35 of them are listed by name in Romans 16 and he describes some and only greets others now what sentence characterizes your life at the end of your life Paul only has a little little sentence here and there for these people some just a word but what sentence characterized your life what's the epitaph gonna be upon your tombstone here lies Rick you know what what what's it going to say thereafter whether to say will it say that he was a friend of God or an enemy of God what you know what sentences describes you so Paul describes his friends verse one I commend unto you Phoebe our sister which is a servant of the church which is at Sentria so Phoebe is commended by the Apostle Paul as a sister and she would deliver the epistle to the Romans as a servant of the church of Sentria. Sentria is the eastern seaport of Corinth Paul was writing the letter from Corinth to the Romans and Phoebe was going to be one that delivered this epistle to the Romans she's described as a sister a sister in the Lord so Paul lists eight different women as among his friends and he likens them as sisters you know in the Lord so our relationship for us men with women women with men within the church it should be sisters and brothers you know along those lines the word servant is diakonos which means she was a deaconess you remember in Acts chapter 6 they needed some deacons to help with the distribution of food and stuff so a deaconess a woman would help other women who are poor help women that were going to be baptized help women that need a distribution of food and stuff she would visit the sick sometimes it's inappropriate for the men to visit the women who are sick so they'd be able to visit the women and take care of the needs that the women have she's able to help the younger women model Christianity model a maybe a wife what it means to be a wife what it means to be a homemaker she'd minister unto the poor and as I said she'd help at baptisms to keep the modesty there when the women are going to be going into the water to be baptized verse 2 that you receive her in the Lord has become a saint's and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she has need of you for she has been a secure of many and of myself also so the word received means to be hospitable to assist means to stand by a friend stands by in a time of struggle in a time of difficulty and the Apostle Paul knew what it was for all men to forsake him so friends stand by each other I've had so many of you that stood by continue to stand by Kathy and I over the years and I've had others that have left and and you know that I can still consider them friends you know doesn't doesn't doesn't really you know matter in that way we we pray for each and every person that comes to mind as the Lord brings them to mind we pray for each one and but it's really nice when you go through a trial a difficulty and there's family hopefully but if not family that there's friends within the body of Christ that stand with you rather than against you and 2nd Timothy 4 verse 16 Paul says that my first answer no man stood with me so Paul's having to answer for being an Apostle and you know it's you can be guilty by association with this guy and people don't want to be associated with him so at my first defense you know as he's standing before those accusing him he said no man stood with me but all men forsook me and I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge so the Lord's gonna sort that out of whether or not they should have hung with him and been with him or not notwithstanding and this is all you need this is all you need all you need the Lord stood with me that's all we need as long as the Lord is standing with you that's all you need you don't need a majority you don't need to campaign you don't need to capitulate or give in to a very wicked evil board that's trying to govern or rule over a pastor and move things in a certain direction no you just you plant your feet and you stand upon the Word of God and you don't budge you don't budge one little bit and the Lord you know they may they may fire you they may get rid of you they may whatever but you just you stand upon the truth of God's Word and and he says but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion so this first defense he's delivered out of the mouth of Nero he is delivered out of the mouth of the devil who goes about like a roaring lion seeking who may he may devour Jesus never fails that word secure speaks of a helper a protectress to take protective charge and so to take charge protective charge I'm gonna insulate I'm gonna insulate some of the suffering these people are going through I'm gonna be a secure I'm gonna help them I'm gonna try and shield them from some of the assault that's coming against them the pain that they're going through 1st Samuel 18 1 it says the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul and so Jonathan's gonna be the next king right because Saul is king and his son Jonathan would be the next king but Jonathan being spirit-filled Jonathan knew that the hand of God was upon David so rather than fighting against David as his as his father Saul was doing he was best friends with David right and they they had a great time together their souls were knit together and so much so that after Jonathan and Saul were killed in battle later when David David was you know ruling and reigning from Jerusalem he he asked for the records he asked for somebody is there anybody in the house of Saul actually the house of Jonathan that I can bless I miss Jonathan I want to bless him and they found that there was a person named Mephibosheth and Mephibosheth was was crippled at his feet and so he had a servant named Ziba that that watched over his land and his livestock and all that but but wasn't in communion wasn't in fellowship with King David so David said go get him bring him here Mephibosheth you're gonna eat at my table you're gonna eat here right and and so the blessing of the friendship the long-lasting friendship that extended even to Mephibosheth David's love for Jonathan as it carried over love thy neighbor as thyself Proverbs 18 24 says a man that has friends must show himself friendly and there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother and so if you want friends you got to show yourself friendly and there's a friend that sticks closer than you know your own family members and all now I've had some of you share with me and this is nothing that that any reflection upon me or Kathy but it's a reflection on the working of the Holy Spirit at this season in this church there were other seasons where our church was very clicky do you guys know what a click is in a church yeah you all are familiar with that and and it's it's frustrating isn't it you're a new person visiting a church and there's clicks and you can't you can't break through those clicks you know they kind of love you from afar you know and and and what's really cool is I get reports back now and it's such a blessing such a blessing because we've been through some wars our church got really sick at times where people were warring and fighting little factions and power struggles and everything and it's so heartwarming to me because I can't handle the stress anymore people really stress me out they do all that kind of stuff I'm just getting too old you know and so when I hear of people loving one another I feel like I'm you know John and first John you know how he just keeps emphasizing love one another will love one another love one another really that's all that matters if we don't love one another there's nothing left it doesn't matter what we do after that without love we're nothing and so we had a lunch with Cory and Nancy last week and she said this to me more than once but she was at a another church while back and and she couldn't make any friends nobody befriended her nobody allowed her in and and then when she came here she found a place that we're just as crazy as she is she got right in you know and you finally find your tribe you find your group of people and and it's real easy to break in because we know we're all losers you know we all Jesus is the only only hero he's the only celebrity and and we remind you right we remind you so so such a blessing to not have to put on the heiress to not have to be phony to not you know play the world game in the church that the Holy Spirit gives us that love to love one another and these relationships that I'm walking or watching are growing deeper and deeper with you guys the reports I get many ways that you minister to one another as Paul's describing here and it's just such a joy and a blessing to watch the body of Christ grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and as evidence thereof to be ministering standing with one another encouraging one another helping one another just an amazing thing to behold and Jesus said the world as we love one another the world will know us the world will see us as we love one another they'll know this is real oh how they loved one another verse three greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus so their home was in Rome but in 52 AD Claudius expelled all the Jews from Rome angry at the Jews and the anti-semitism has been around for a long time so Paul met them as he was in Corinth and they had the same occupation the same profession that of being a tent maker so the Paul could make a coat for you he could make you know robes he could make a leather garments he could make a sail for your sailboat so Aquila and Priscilla the same sort of ability you get the fabric and pretty soon you're making these quilts for all this for all of the military folks like Judy and Ronnie and Fred and you these wonderful works of love Dorcas and all and so Paul was a Paul worked with a sewing needle and so to Aquila and Priscilla so they underwrote their ministry in this way and and their itinerant ministries Paul's moving about like that and so their tent makers like Paul they accompanied Paul to Ephesus where they instructed a very gifted evangelist named Apollos more perfectly and they were back in Rome they came back to Rome after Ephesus and then later back to Ephesus and so Aquila and Priscilla are known well in the church for having home fellowship people that open their homes and have these home fellowships where two three four five you know ten or whatever we're gonna see there's two other groups in here that are having home fellowships Pastor Chuck I told you what he said years ago he believes the church will finish up as the church started in homes why is that because like in Iran right now the fastest growing church in the world they're meeting in homes right they're meeting secretly like in China and there's a lot of persecution coming against the church in these countries and that persecutions can increase all over the world if the Lord doesn't rapture you and I soon we're gonna see more and more legislation directed against our right to assemble our right to speak the truth and love they're gonna haul me away and you better stand with me you better come get me and you better not say I don't know that nut job I wouldn't associate with him you know I knew he was gonna be hauled away even even many in the churches around here allude to me as being a little off and a nut job so the clergy response team that's the team they're gonna be on they're gonna be like Judas sheep that try and lead the people into the FEMA camps and the places of quarantine you know the next pandemic or whatever and I'm gonna be the nut job that continues to meet whether it's in a home or in a park or here wherever it may be and at a certain point you're a threat to the state because you you will not comply we're gonna obey God rather than men when it comes to that point and so so we continue to just serve the Lord and thank him for the safety the protection so far but you'll find out who your friends are in a time of crisis and and so I'm thankful for you guys because I know we're gonna look out for each other and minister to one another you got to have some friends man got to have some friends and you get through this life you find out you're gonna have very few at the end in many cases and so who have for my life laid down their own necks on whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles so friends love sacrificially greater love has no man than this and a man laid down his life for his friends and so we see that sacrificial love that Jesus spoke of in John 13 and so now in contrast to that where we remember Job's friends Job Job was very popular at one point the richest man in the Near East right the oldest book in the Bible the book of Job and interestingly behind the curtain there was a discussion between the devil and God and the devil came and and God says where you been and he says Oh to and for walking to and fro throughout the earth now remember the devil is not omnipresent he can't be everywhere so he's walking up and down through the earth he's got demons one-third of the you know fallen angels are with him and so they have Ephesians 6 they have you know stratagems they have principalities and powers so districts you know like the District of Columbia Washington DC be a be a place Bremerton be a place and so these demons have that regional area if you will you remember illustrated in Daniel chapter 10 Daniel is praying 21 days straight fasting and praying and angel came to him angel Gabriel came to him and told him Daniel beloved of God from the very first moment that you began to pray you know to the present but I was fighting with the Prince of Persia of Iran so there was a dignitary a dignitary like principality and a power a fallen angel a demon that had representation over Persia and so you see where Gabriel and Michael the Archangel and such would fight with these guys and and I think at Christmas time Clarence too so it happens they fight all right so greater love is no man than this so anyway Job Satan says well have you considered my servant Job man perfect and upright in all of his ways a man that fears God and eschews evil so we have the report from God Job's a good guy and the problem is when you start to go through trouble you think hey there's sin in the camp like with Achan after Jericho there's sin in the camp it defiled the children of Israel and they got sorely defeated by those at AI and so you think all right I need to evaluate is there sin in the camp is there have we have we defiled ourselves have we done something that caused a breach that caused a way for the enemy to get in and have we allowed the enemy to get in a certain way but we get the report perfect and upright in all of his ways a man that fears God and eschews evil he's doing good he's doing real good and God's blessing him in every way shape and form and he's the greatest man of his time the greatest man and so Satan says well he doesn't love you for who you are take away his stuff and he'll curse you to your face and God says all right you can touch the stuff but save his life and so from his livestock to his children to their homes everything was taken everything was just wiped out a storm a demonic storm comes through wipes him out and he's he's left bewildered if you will that's a word they use there in the book of Job bewilderment like what just happened what's going on I can't I can't I can't reconcile this I don't understand what's going on you know and and it says that Job naked came into the world naked I'm gonna go the Lord give of the Lord take of the way blessed be the name of the Lord and Job sinned not with his lips so then Satan comes the second time and says skin for skin all that man has will he give for his life take away his health and a lot of you are being challenged with your health Satan saying I'll take away their health and they'll quit praising the Lord they'll quit serving the Lord they'll quit singing they'll quit they'll just quit when it gets too tough for them physically and so God says all right Satan you can do that but save his life and so we see Job with boils from the crown of his head to his feet and he's in dust and ashes and he's scraping himself the boils and all that was over him very painful boils he's scraping it with little pieces of pottery and all and and it says you know still that Job sinned not with his lips his wife says you continue to maintain your integrity why don't you curse God and die and he says oh you speak as a foolish woman speak his perspective is shall we not receive good at the hand of the Lord and not evil we love the Lord for who he is but then his miserable comforters came Eliphaz Bildad Zophar and later Elihu and they began to preach to Job they began to preach to Job of diagnosing his problem you know these are the problems this is what's happening you're really a pretender you're really a hypocrite you really have secret sin in your life and all that they didn't know what's going on they didn't see behind the curtain the Lord treating Job like a football that's going to be kicked from Satan to himself you know it is you're just you're just part of the game you know this this big game up there you know that's what it feels like sometimes is it a game no it's not a game it's your life it's your children it's real and though he slay me yet will I trust in him the Lord knows the way that I take when he's tried me I'm gonna come forth as gold there's real faith that's developed and that we see through this but we see the miserable comforters in Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar and later Elihu and they did not comfort Job one bit as they were as they were trying to come up with a reason a solution of why a cause and effect of why these things happen God never apologized to Job God never explained to Job why they happened God said to Job where were you when if you can't explain how he hung the earth on nothing if you can't explain creation if you can't explain behemoth and and Leviathan and these other things if you have no knowledge of that what makes you think you have knowledge of my sovereign dealings in your life you're called to walk by faith to trust me and so Job abhorred himself he abhorred himself he repented in dust and ashes and Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar they were in trouble Elihu was in trouble because they misrepresented God in prognosticating what was happening speculating what was happening they should have been YouTube prophets you know they should have been on YouTube with all their stuff the way these guys babble on and everything trying to come up with with their reasons and all but he describes Job as my servant Job my servant Job and and Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar and Elihu were in trouble and Job had to offer sacrifices for them you know and then the Lord blessed Job again a second time more than the previous time and so we see the at the end the patience of Job as James describes the endurance of Job and going through think that things like this and so you may be going through something now and you don't think you have a friend in the world you've exhausted people around you they just they don't have the answers they'd like to comfort you they just don't know what to say anymore it's gone on for so long in your life and but you need to know the Lord is standing with you you need to know that you're in God's will you're where you're supposed to be and that you're representing him and and you're going to get through it he's going to get you through it and look to him for answers look to him for meaning and purpose in and through these trials look to him and set aside the things that are screaming in your head about the injustice of it all set that aside look to the cross remember that it was unjust that Jesus went to the cross that in many cases you're a reminder of how unjustly Jesus was treated and and remember that the best is yet to come that he's working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose there is a purpose in this and it's not because you're evil it's not because you did something bad it's not because you didn't have enough faith there gave enough or did enough or whatever that's a work strip and you do believe and your faith is being stretched and your faith is growing and you're honoring God and the Lord will bring a fair weather friends when things are good and then at times when things are bad you're gonna be treated like a leper they're gonna bail on you they're afraid they'll catch it they don't want to catch that Jobism you know and Jesus experienced the same things that crunch time nobody stood with him the Shepherd was smitten the sheep scattered and we're gonna see here that Rufus Rufus the son of Simon of Cyrene that Simon of Cyrene he has a son named Rufus but Simon's the one that picked up the cross and helped Jesus with it where was Peter where was James where was John where was any of the disciples the Shepherd was smitten and at crunch time they bailed on Jesus and he didn't hold it against them but and you can't hold it we can't hold it against people because they just don't have the capacity to comfort it's beyond their ability to understand and their advice in many cases is an empty advice they just don't know and we learn to extend grace towards pastors and pastors wives that have been so insulated they're almost like celebrities in our culture and they don't have to suffer they're living the good life they're making enormous amounts of money and if something anything happens in their life like you and I like us they're shocked because do you know who I am there's just absolutely shocked they don't they they can't adjust and yet every day every Sunday they meet people in the fellowship are going through the same sorts of things you know for years it's mind-boggling to me that the season the place that we're at you know our Christian culture here I've told you many times that in China they don't consider you to be a pastor until you've spent some time in prison till you spend some time in jail but here if anything bad happens to a pastor it's like something's wrong with that it's not supposed to happen to him he's really close to God well Job was close to God Jesus is God how was he treated so don't think it's an anomaly don't think it's a don't be surprised many are the afflictions of the righteous the Lord delivers them out of them all Jesus promised us tribulation pressure in these last days the godlier life you live the greater threat you are to the kingdom of darkness of the greater attack and assault to come against your life you get that if you compromise with the world the world's gonna love you and they're gonna leave you alone but you start to go against the world you become a target of the of the wicked one and you better be ready better have your big boy big girl pants on because it's it's gonna be difficult first five likewise greet the church that is in their house so the home fellowships where two or more gathered Matthew 18 speaks of authority but also two or more Jesus said there I am in the midst and so the the fellowship a sweet communion and fellowship home fellowships one of the best places for you to grow in the Lord are in home fellowships I've been a part of a home fellowship since the very first getting saved we've always incorporated home fellowships salute my well-beloved Eponinus who is the first fruits of a ki under Christ so this Eponinus is the first convert the first one that came to Christ and Paul's ministry in the area of Asia Minor so Paul saw a great revival in Ephesus lots of people coming to Christ in the city of Ephesus as he ministered there for three years Paul saw people in Smyrna getting saved lots of people in Pergamos and Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea Colossae Hierapolis and many others but he never forgot Paul never forgot that first convert Paul says salute him tell him I'm thinking about praying about him you don't just fall in the cracks you don't just fall out of you tell him I said hello in Job 19 14 we see that Job had a very low social credit score he says in verse 14 of chapter 19 my kinsfolk family have failed and my familiar friends have forgotten me they that dwell in my house and my maids count me for a stranger I'm an alien in their sight you go from the top to the bottom don't you where's his friends where's the family we're people around them they must have really projected toward him you must be evil we had a pastor's wife one time say to us when we were trying to get our bearings getting into the ministry every time we moved in the direction of serving the Lord all hell would break loose in our life every time we moved in the direction of just minding our own business and and running our business and stuff we'd prosper and but there's something inside of me that just couldn't enjoy it and why couldn't I enjoy it why couldn't I just enjoy it the prosperity the blessings every time there would be this thing inside of me saying no I got something else for you I got something else so anytime I'd move in that direction to discover or clarify or confirm if I was hearing from the Lord by going to school by teaching a Bible study by teaching Sunday school starting at the bottom humbling myself starting at the bottom I didn't cherry-pick and say how am I take over for pastor Chuck you know you know great I am I just started at the bottom a servant but all hell break loose every single time all hell break loose and it was the devil trying to get me to quit trying to get me to stop trying to get me to not go in that direction and one time a pastor's wife at one of the small churches we're going to on Sunday because we moved away from Costa Mesa but I still attended school there and considered our church and going there each Sunday evening but I was teaching Sunday school at this church in the mornings and then so she heard about the some of the things that were happening to us and she says why is it all these bad things happen to you guys so the insinuation is there's sin in the camp there's something you're doing that's wrong that these things are happening and you know and if a pastor pastor's wife ever says that to you you know just pat him on the shoulder and say I'll pray for you or something I mean they're clueless they're just clueless and they just don't know they've never gone through it and so it was very peculiar if somebody should have understood it should have been a pastor's wife and a pastor but they were given everything everything was just given to them and so they didn't have the capacity to know what it is to start with nothing and to persevere when we came to Bremerton the first day that we were here we were ministering down in Oregon starting the church down there that we were invited to and we're having a little bit of trouble with one of the guys that the guy that invited us there and another group a city over said we knew you'd have problems with them come over here so we're at a place called Depot Bay by Newport and we're a pastor in that church and ministering to them on Sunday evenings and and then a friend of ours from our Bible study moved up here and kept inviting us up here so we came up to look and that first Sunday that we came here or that first Friday I think it was we got in a head-on car wreck and when the people down in Oregon heard about that totaled the car hurt people in the car people down in Oregon heard that they said see God doesn't want you up there in Bremerton he wants you down here now my my frame of mind my thinking it's pretty pretty jaded my thinking was the devil hates me and the devil saying don't come near here not the Lord the Lord doesn't need to get my attention might give me a head-on car wreck right that is right it wasn't that extreme you know I was I was just trying to figure you know trying to test the waters well all hell broke loose against us and I told the guys in Oregon no I think that's where the Lord wants us the devil doesn't want us there and so that's how crazy we are so we we continue to fight the good fight with you all these years later and we still love one another isn't that amazing we haven't killed each other yet because churches can be a mean place now here's another little thing I want you to understand in churches you will meet the best people you've ever met the nicest most loving most godly people are in the church and when you meet them and you develop friendships with them that go on for years you're going to cherish those friendships just they're from God it's a God thing but at the same time you are going to meet some of the nastiest meanest children of the devil you've ever met who are also in the church the key is get rid of them love them love them to win them and if they don't get it get rid of them and I believe in a big way it has to do with it has to do with people trying to build a church in the arm of the flesh and the jockeying and the carnality and the fighting and all of that's just in the flesh and so I think what happened to us is when we lost everything there's nothing to fight over nobody's fighting over who's going to be the assistant pastor or who's going to be this or who's going to be that or you know and there's there's nobody's worried about Kathy and I getting rich off of the church buildings or you know the progress that we're making by building buildings and taking over real estate and all that nobody's calling me up and telling me how much my house is worth anymore we're just here for Jesus now it's simple it's about Jesus and we're able to love one another and I like the simplicity I like to be able to to do that and so I don't know what you know even in the Calvary chapels when a pastor dies there's enormous power struggles that take place of seizing the assets and who's going to get the assets and who's going to take control I mean major ugly ugly fights and you go into these churches and you know it's Ichabod the glory of the Lord has departed a church that that was once just filled with love there's no love there anymore it's just mechanical it's just going through the motions and the Holy Spirit moves from there so cherish what you have here and protect it protect what you have here by continuing to love one another don't allow clicks when you see new people here you know you guys surround them and try to make them so they can't leave you're so loving and you get to know their names and you call them and you have lunch with them and you invite them over and you're just so loving and kind you're reaching out and how it must please the Lord to see the way that you're loving one another so likewise greet the church that's in their house the home fellowships were two or more and so Paul is excited about that we see Job the failure of his friends in Isaiah 49 15 it says can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yes it's possible they may forget yet will I not forget thee so you're always going to have the Lord Jesus as your friend you're always going to have the Lord Jesus calling you a friend and David you remember when we talked about a ziklag when they lost everything to the Malachites that came through there it says it is mighty men a 600 mighty men who are close to David closest compadres they were so hurt they were so in pain that their wives and children everything were taken that they wept till they couldn't weep anymore and then they said let's kill David let's stone they're so angry but David didn't give up it says and David encouraged himself in his God David got alone with Jesus and he began to pray and then the Lord encouraged him and then he exhibited he demonstrated some leadership that wound up getting everything back that was taken and then he's a hero you're a hero and your goat then you're here again then you're a goat you know and just just sad the way that way that it is as human beings so we as friends we forget birthdays etc but God never forgets the day that you became his friend you're no longer an enemy you're a friend of God and I have to thank all of you for all your cards and birthdays and everything that's gone on here the way that you minister to me and my family and nobody's forgotten a thing verse 6 greet Mary who bestowed much labor on us so friends labor to exhaustion salute Andronikos and Junia my kinsmen my fellow prisoners who are of note among the Apostles who also were in Christ before me so prisoners prisoners that Paul knew knew as as inmates these these were in prison with him they were saved before Paul in the Stephen era they're of note among the Apostles so the word Apostle means one cent you have the twelve that have the office of Apostleship those that were with Christ and saw the resurrected Christ the people that you hear today in the new apostolic Reformation who are giving themselves titles like I'm a prophet and I'm a prophetess or I'm an apostle and you know the pastor needs to answer to me because by you know because I'm the Apostle and and I'm a prophet and he shouldn't do all the speaking because you know Lord's given me time to speak so this prophet this prophetess everyone starts speaking everyone declaring there's churches like that around here the Holy Spirit's not gonna interrupt himself so everything's to be done to edification to build people up and not to chaos not to not to nut jobs but he says here Apostles one that sent so you have your twelve Apostles those that have the office of Apostleship that Jesus gave to them and then you have someone named Barnabas remember Barnabas he's an Apostle he's been sent you got James the brother of Jesus who's in charge of the church pretty much in charge in Acts 15 he's a leader of the church he wasn't with the twelve he didn't travel but he's recognized as being one of the leaders with Peter James and John and you got Silas you got Andronikos Silas went on a missionary trip with the Apostle Paul and a second missionary thing Andronikos and a woman named Junius it's in the feminine she's of note a woman Apostle one that's been sent so not of the twelve but in the feminine one sent by God so this could be a woman like Philip had four daughters who were evangelists who were prophetesses and and virgin girls and so women minister the gospel to women they can be sent they can go out with the gospel Priscilla and Aquila were a great team they're able to minister more perfectly to Apollos and so women have much to offer in the area of teaching they're great learners many cases far better teachers than many of the men out there but there is a headship there's a chain of command if you will and so that's why we don't we adhere to what the Bible says that a woman's not to teach nor to usurp authority over men so you're not going to see me putting women pastors in in this church up here so that I could get all the feminists in the community to like me not going to happen I'm not moving in that direction we're not we we have lots of testosterone around here okay and we're not afraid we don't we're not going to bring them on our board we're not going to try and appease the culture in that way but if women want to have a women's Bible study they're welcome to do that prayer meetings help with baptisms help with food help with the sick teach Sunday school teach young kids more than qualified great teachers but everything's to be done decently in an order and so I don't I don't eat soy no soy so I'm gonna have a steak today and I'm gonna make it blood-red it's gonna be medium rare so I got these teeth right here those are for ripping and thrashing meat and it jacks my testosterone up and I'm hearing other ways to get more testosterone guys my age are all getting the shot everybody's getting the t-shot I'm not going to do that I got enough aggressiveness in me but I hear you can take ice baths it'll double your double your tea so I've been thinking about it but man what an animal I'll be if I do that I gotta take it easy you know I don't even like a cold shower you know so but there's this whole thing going on between men and women the roles and stuff and and picking on men and picking on women and you know what just be who God's made you you know I know it's frustrating out there the men are saying they can't find women to marry and the women I can't find men and they're bickering fighting be careful of divide and conquer what the world's doing you know trying to divide and conquer on every level we're watching ethnic groups money men women children trying to divide and conquer and that's that's that's not of the Lord and so if you have an apostle Junia Junius in the feminine her name and she's of note among the Apostles it doesn't mean she's well-known among the Apostles they know of her or does it mean she's one of the Apostles an apostle and and also well known in that way so what is God sent you to do all of us Jesus said to go and make disciples all of us are Apostles in the sense of being sent apostolos and so we've all been sent you've been sent to your Jerusalem is Bremerton your Judea is Kitsap County your Samaria is the state of Washington and the uttermost is all over the world you know God sent you and so it's not just through a pastor all of us have the privilege and the blessing of sharing the glorious good news of Jesus Christ and going and making disciples now in order to make a disciple you first of all need to be a learner you need to be in a church that teaches the Bible in which you learn you pass on to others and the Lord will give you more as you continue to pass on to others what he's given to you so what what has God sent you to do verse 8 greet Amplius my beloved in the Lord named in the catacombs of Dalmatia so if you go to the catacombs of Dalmatia this person's name Amplius is written there in the catacombs so in case you didn't know the early church in the first two centuries of the church there were ten waves of Roman Emperors that were trying to stamp out Christianity so the church had to go underground and we're living in what's known as the catacombs so in dens and caves and things like that and and so the the Christians had a way of communicating with each other so as not to you know be caught if you will and so this name there historically we know that this name's there salute Urbane our helper in Christ and Stachys my beloved so Urbane he's a he's a city slicker he's not a hick and then salute Appellus approved in Christ now notice that word approved that word approved is going through the fire of testing and coming out the other side refined and and passing the test Adachimos is disqualified you you don't you been weighed in the balance and found wanting but in this case this is a guy that Paul's alluding to this is my sentence for this guy salute Appellus he's approved so quite possibly he's gone through some suffering he's approved in Christ put to the test anyone his faith is genuine and he's gone through the fire and the fires there so the Lord will purify us we go through the refiners fire so if you're in a fiery trial think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that's going to test you the Lord is glorified when people are watching you and you go through an injustice you go through heartache you go through difficulty your children or whatever it may be something happens and and now you know you're like Job in some cases you're like Jesus you're like the Apostle Paul you're shipwrecked you're you're despairing of life maybe but you get through that trial by trusting in Jesus relying upon Jesus as you come out the other side yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for you're with me and the Lord Jesus gets you through and you draw closer to him in that trial your roots grow deeper unto him and you a Shadrach Meshach and Abednego you learn that the Lord's in the fire with you and you're getting to know him like you've never known him before and as you come out the other side the devil didn't win the devil didn't steal your faith Jesus said to Peter Satan desires to sift you Peter to beat on you wipe you out and I'm praying for you Peter I'm praying for you and what's he praying that your faith fail not most important possession we have is our faith which is a gift from God he's gifted you and I with a measure of faith and that faith can grow but the most important possession you have is faith in God the greatest pauper you die on your epitaph hey Bill Gates died with a trillion dollars but he was an enemy of God an enemy of God really you want to die as an enemy of God Bill you want to die as the guy that was trying to depopulate everybody and inject everybody with poison and lethal doses and stuff that's really how you want to be remembered like a Hitler s kind of a person are you kidding me George Soros are you kidding me you globalists what's the epitaph gonna be for you and I Jesus he loved Jesus Jesus loved him we love him because he first loved us James 112 says blessed is the man that endures temptation testing there's an endurance your stamina increases that's why I'm so concerned about our culture of so-called Christians they haven't gone through endurance training they haven't had anything difficult they've they've taken a false gospel that says everything's going to be smooth and easy and we don't want to hear hard things we don't want prophecy taught we don't want to you know we want to be put have the blinders on we don't want to know what's going on we just want to stay here in our little cubicle and act like it's not happening well they don't have the endurance they don't have the stamina to withstand the fight that's coming the spiritual battles that are coming don't you sense the spiritual battles already it's already happening and we have to because your targets just as I said earlier if you're following Jesus and you want the truth you are a target of the wicked one he wants to neutralize you and knock you out he wants to knock your family out your marriage out your career out everything he's after everything he doesn't need to deal with those that are already compromised he's after you so you're gaining endurance you're gaining stamina you're getting stronger you know in your faith so Apilleius is approved in Christ and so endures temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him Bill Gates ain't get no crown of life he ain't get no crown of glory he ain't get no crown of rejoicing what he has is a is a wreath by the world that the world gives to these trillionaires that fades away you're get you're given a crown that fades not away eternal reserve for you and I you know in the heavens and I wouldn't trade it I wouldn't trade it for a moment to be him not one moment I don't care what what they're doing or what they're buying or it doesn't entice me it doesn't draw draw me you know what's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what would a man give an exchange for his life and that's where the testing is the testing is testing you of how much do you love the world trying to get you to love the world let go of the world let go of it just let it go embrace Jesus grow deeper you know in your walking relationship with him and you'll find like in many cases like with Job he'll give it all back to you later if not in this life the life to come certainly you have the crown of life reserved for you he says salute them which are of Aristobulus household Aristobulus is the grandson of Herod the Great so the Apostle Paul as he's in prison gonna be in prison been in prison been in jail I guess know a lot of these folks and and then he says salute Herodian my kinsmen so does this mean Paul has a cousin named Herodian my kinsmen I don't know greet them that be of the household of Narcissus which are in the Lord so this Narcissus is a well known free man secretary to Claudius who committed suicide after the murder of Claudius but a friend of Paul's Paul made a friend it was some of these people within the Roman government such verse 12 salute Tryphena and Tryphosa so here's a play on words the parents that that name these children these twins if you will who labor in the Lord salute the beloved Persis which labored much in the Lord so their names mean dainty and delicate so you have two little daughters you name dainty and delicate and then they grow up to be MMA fighters right dainty and delicate don't call me dainty don't call me delicate twins laboring to exhaustion with Persis so they they got it going Paul loves them salute them tell them hi they work real hard in the church and and guys you need to be aware most of the work in the church is done by the women it's the women that teach Sunday school it's the women that set up it's the women that break down it's the women that bring the kids to to to church many cases in the churches around here they got to drag the man they got to use a carnal means to attract the man and get the men to even attend church but the women are motivated because they're nesters they want their family to work they want their kids to to be okay and they'll do anything they need to do to help that church keep that church going and provide an environment at church that's conducive to the children growing the family getting stronger and and they're the ones in most churches that do 90% of the work so dainty and delicate they're laboring to exhaustion the word labor there in the Greek means laboring to the point of exhaustion how many of you are exhausted already before Christmas even here you're working your day job and then you're doing all the shopping and getting ready for the family and friends and all the stuff and Kathy's just exhausted with the birthdays that crept in there and she's watching the kids once a week now and and you know gingerbread houses and all sorts of things buying the presents and shopping and she'll be glad when the New Year gets here right and then the church stuff today right so he says salute Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine so Paul would hang out with Rufus at his home at their home so maybe Paul lost his family members but his mother and mine in that he's accepted in the family maybe you have a friend like that they'll say hey my brother from another mother you know some people talk about that and the intimacy the friendship that you have with people and you become a part of their family and so as I said earlier this is the son of Simon the Cyrenian and in Mark 15 21 it says they compel one Simon of Cyrenian who passed by coming out of the country the father of Alexander Ruth Rufus to bear his cross so Jesus has lost lots of blood physiologically he's weary and we see him in this humanity he's the God man but he's acquainted with the infirmity of being in this human body he took on the form of a man he's the son of man we see him John chapter 4 that he was tired that he was weary physiologically and he needed some water and he asked the woman of Samaria you know for some water we see in this case that as he's carrying the cross the cat o' nine tails would be something that would rip not just lacerate the outer skin the epidermis but but to dig deep in the sinew of the body and in many cases guys would die from the cat o' nine tails the it's the phyllagium the handle but it have strips of leather coming off of it and the pieces of bone and pottery and stuff at the very tips so that it not only hits but goes in deep and then pulls chunks of skin out so we know that he is beaten beyond the recognition of a man that John saw him revelation 5 as a lamb that had been slain and so the beating the the punching they put a bag over his head who wrote Herod's guys and they punched him and they said you know who did hit thee and such and so as pastor Chuck likes to point out if you're a boxer if you're you know in contact sports if you see the punch coming you can faint with the punch you can move with the punch but if you got a bag on your head if you're blinded it's a blunt object hitting you over and over and over again and so he's he's he's beaten he's lost a lot of blood and been nailed to the gonna be nailed to the tree and and so Simon of Cyrene he's there as we said earlier none of the other guys are there and he helps he helps with it and so where's his friends where the friends of Jesus he says in Matthew 26 31 all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I'll smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad and so Peter says I'm not gonna bail on you I'm ready to die with you and Jesus said before this nights over before the cock crows you're gonna deny that you even know me on three different occasions and so all of them are self-preservation you know kicks in they're trying to survive and they don't want to also be crucified with him in the Garden of Gethsemane though Peter is the one that took his sword and cut off Malchus's ear so he really is willing to go for it but when Jesus tells him Peter don't you know that I have you know twelve legions of angels that I could call down one angel killed 185,000 of the Assyrian force in the time of Hezekiah and 12 legions 6,000 in allegiance 72,000 angels to come down here and fight with these guys Peter if I want to he reaches down and grabs Malchus's ear and puts it back on you know his head and it was a little crooked I think but he got it back on his head and a little reminder no I'm just kidding that's how warped I am but but he said live by the sword you're gonna die by the sword Peter so the the power of the Holy Spirit now what's interesting is as they wimped out as you and I wimp out at times we lose courage we lose faith all of us do and when that happens the Lord's still there he's there to restore us isn't he to help us to get us going again a bruised reed he will not break and smoking flax he will not quench so when your life is bruised and people think you're worthless and you're good for nothing the Lord Jesus is gonna make a flute out of you you're gonna be singing like Jethro Tull pretty soon you know anybody remember that okay and then a smoking flax is a is a oil candle and when it loses its oil it's kind of just the wick is just flittering and Jesus doesn't just go over there with his fingers and go snuff you out Jesus comes over adds oil the oil of the Holy Spirit and and life he breathes life back into you he restores you and I you know he's he's not gonna leave us in that condition but in that condition we learn to trust in him that when I'm weak then I'm strong that his grace is sufficient for thee for his strengths perfected and weakness as Paul prayed three times that a messenger of Satan that was buffeting him would be removed the Lord told him no you're gonna learn to rely upon me to an even greater and greater degree so it's interesting when we get to Easter we see the disciples are incredibly bold why are they bold because of the resurrection at the crucifixion they're wimping out because they were envisioning Jesus overthrowing the Romans and who's going to sit on the left hand the right hand of Jesus Peter's willing to fight for that but when he recognized and he understands that Jesus is actually apprehended and he's willingly going and he's there at the house of Annas and then Caiaphas and then before the Sanhedrin and then before Pilate and then Herod then back to Pilate Peter's watching warming himself at the enemy's fire and he's realizing this is really happening how could this be happening and there is so dejected and they're so bummed out and then Jesus raised himself from the dead and after the resurrection Peter still has a hard time adjusting after the resurrection he's at the Sea of Gennesaret of Galilee and he's fishing right he's wanting to go back to his old trade and the guys are there with them and Jesus is there on the shore children you caught any fish no cast your net on the right side and he cast their net and they full of fish just like when he first called them when he first called them I'll make you fishers of men he's restoring them he's he's stimulating their faith he's giving them to trust once again and come in children come and dine they come and dine and Peter's so dejected he's disqualifying himself but after the resurrection these guys are bold Peter in Acts 12 is sleeping in the morning he's gonna be executed and he's able to sleep James was already executed right before him and so these guys are saying I'm gonna obey God rather than men so at this point we understand their lives are just they're in shock they're just in shock but Simon the Cyrenian he's there to pick up the slack so to you and I are able to pick up the slack when one falls we bear one another's burdens by loving one another and helping each other up helping each other to get go get going again and and what a blessing that is so he walked alone until Simon became his friend if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me in Luke 9 23 so Paul became a friend enjoyed sweet fellowship with Simon and Cyrene's family verse 14 now here's another group kind of like Aquila and Priscilla another home Bible study group here salute Asencritis Phlegon Hermes Petrobus Hermes and the brethren which are with them there's your little group here's another one salute Philagos and Julia Nerys and his sister and Olympus and all the Saints which are with them salute one another with a holy kiss the churches of Christ salute you a holy kiss is in our culture like a good handshake like a hug you hug one another a sign of respect a sign of affection and kiss on the cheek that sort of thing in John 15 12 this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you greater love is no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends Jesus says in verse 14 of John 15 you are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you so you're going to show friendship with Jesus in obedience in your desire to live a life that's pleasing unto him and then he says henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth but I called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I've made known unto you why wouldn't you like prophecy you're his friend and he wants you to know ahead of time what's happening it says it right here he doesn't want you to live in the dark you're on the inside talk about insiders you're an insider he's through his word by his spirit is keeping you abreast of what's happening you have discernment in the times in which you're living like the sons of Issachar your heads in the game he says all that my father's I'm telling you I'm briefing you I'm letting you know what it's going to be like up ahead I'm giving you Matthew 24 I'm gonna let you know what the last days are gonna be like I'm gonna let you know what's gonna happen when Titus surrounds Jerusalem I'm letting you know he says you have not chosen me but I've chosen you and ordain that you should go and bring forth fruit and your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the father in my name he may give it you so the privilege of prayer the privilege of access because the fellowship we have and we didn't choose him he chose you he chose you to be his friend you're at enmity with God you're an enemy of God you're fighting against God and he chose you he commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners we didn't clean our lives up we didn't live a good life we didn't become a good person that's allowed admission into heaven because we're good no we come to the place of all have sinned and come short of the glory of God all means all none of us deserve heaven none of us deserve to even know God for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it's a gift of God not of works less any men should boast when Martin Luther was a priest in the Catholic Church and he was going up the steps of the 16 Chapel it finally occurred to him the just shall live by faith justification just as if I've ever sinned comes by grace through faith not works not you working Jesus upon the cross that it is finished what's finished the work the work of what the work of redemption of redeeming you of pain for your sins and my sins what do we do we believe what's it mean to believe to depend upon him to rely upon him for righteousness to rely upon him for everything you didn't choose me but I chose you an ordain that you should bring forth fruit you abide in him in John 15 you just stay there close to Jesus his life flows through you and you begin to bear spiritual fruit the fruit of the Spirit which is love Jesus chose you to be his friend Jesus went to the cross he laid down his life for you his friend is Jesus your friend is Jesus at the top of your Facebook friends is he at the top are you a secret agent Christian you got two accounts living in the world and work in the church what sentence characterizes your life what's your epitaph King Saul by his own admission his epitaph was I played the fool such a great beginning grabbed from the baggage and head taller and everybody the first king of the nation of Israel they had a theocracy they had they had it made God's their king and then they said we want to be like all the other nations we want a king and God instructs Samuel he says Samuel they haven't rejected you they've rejected me so give him a king let him see what it's like to have a human leader that doesn't have the heart of God and so Saul killed his thousands David is tens of thousands and we get Jesus one day soon the root in the offspring of David is King of Kings and Lord of Lords that's who we're gonna get he played the fool how horrible and James 4 for James says you adulterers and adulterous is know you not that friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God whose friend are you are you a friend of God are you a friend of Jesus I always had a hard time I always have a hard time when I see a celebrity pastor mucking it up with a politician I have a really hard time with that whose side are you on man I don't see Jesus hanging out with Pilate hey let's go golf want to golf man you see how far Jesus can hit that ball how straight he can hit it you know I don't see it I don't see Jesus attending the Roman cocktail parties I don't see it I don't see Paul being invited I don't see Peter being invited I see a place in prison for him it's mind-boggling to me woe unto you when all men speak well of you it's healthy to have some enemies it's healthy to stand against this world you know the church presently is being led to slaughter because the pastors are cowards because the pastors won't stand up for truth and call not just the church it's where we start but call the world unto repentance John the Baptist didn't just speak to believers he spoke to unbelievers he told Herod King Herod the woman you're with is your brother Philip's wife you're committing adultery and he lost his head over it for a party favor he chose a side he chose God's side he didn't he didn't keep quiet about it and go to the party and enjoy the party with Herod and the gang he's all for Jesus you can't be friend of the world and a friend of God you can't there's no compromise you're either for him or you're against him you're gathering with him you're scattering abroad I get so cringy when I see a pastor a celebrity pastor hanging out with politicians it's part of the game it's part of the evangelical movement that's merged with politics and the church gets deceived every time every time you get deceived disarming us we need to be the church we need to be a friend of Jesus you're a friend of Jesus they're not going to like you are you a friend of God's a friend of Jesus greater love is no man than this and a man lay down his life for his friends talks cheap if any man come after me let him deny himself daily take up his cross daily and follow me in Matthew 26 verse 50 Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane he's asked his friends to pray with him Peter James and John come pray with me lest you enter in temptation and he's sweating as it were great drops of blood he's asking the father he's praying to his father father if you're willing remove this cup from me this cup of wrath that's coming down on me nevertheless not as I will but thy will be done and the disciples are falling asleep eventually he just says sleep on they're here and then Judas who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver Judas penced him out right he took the 30 pieces of silver and he backstabbed Jesus he led them there and he said he said you're going to know he's the one because I'm going to give him a kiss now you're telling me Jesus been around three and a half years and these guys coming into the garden of Gethsemane don't just recognize Jesus that it's going to take a kiss from one of his disciples one of his apostles to identify him and Jesus turns and he says betray us first he says Judas friend Jesus addresses him as a friend he's given Judas a chance right there he's given Judas a chance to repent and then he says betray us thou the son of man with a kiss you're going to betray me with a kiss faithful are the wounds of a friend Nathan's going to come to David and say David you're the man God's going to send your friend to you to tell you to stop it come back home to your wife you stop it right now come home to your family we broke bread together we're friends together we serve the Lord together what happened to you David you're the man that's what a friend does faithful are the wounds of a friend the kisses of an enemy are deceitful the guy that would come along say yeah she always was a problem they begin to denigrate your wife your family justifying what you're doing your your illicit behavior your evil behavior I mean Kathy's my best friend her and Jesus right become his friend church of Laodicea kicked Jesus out he says behold I stand at the doorknock if any man hear my voice and open the door I'll come in and sub with him and he with me he's still offering friendship even though the church of Laodicea are self-satisfied and saying we're rich and increased with goods nothing but the true estimation the true condition of this church is lukewarm you're insipid you're powerless you're naked poor blind and miserable is who you really are you have the material things of the world but you're lacking the spiritual vitality of being a friend of mine and I still love you I'm still knocking on the door of your heart and if you're willing open the door of your heart we'll have sweet fellowship once again in Exodus 33 11 it says that Moses spoke face to face with the Lord as friends speak Abraham's described as the friend of God in 2nd Chronicles 20 verse 7 it says Abraham thy friend forever in Isaiah 41 8 Abraham my friend in James 2 23 James says Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God what's the epitaph for Abraham the friend of God is Jesus your friend and how did Abraham become God's friend how did it become clear when he lifted the knife Jesus said you're my friend if you obey me the crowning achievement of Abraham's life was Isaac Isaac Abraham and a long time for Isaac and God said take thy son thy only son Isaac upon Mount Moriah upon Calvary and offer him as a burnt offering and Abraham obeyed Isaac obeyed and he lifted the knife and the Lord stopped him and that righteousness Hebrews 11 talks how he was saying God you're going to have to raise him from the dead because we know that Ishmael won't live before you but Abraham had prophecy the gospel was before preached unto Abraham Jesus said Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad when he's lifting that knife he's the type of God the father and Isaac's the type of God the son and Mount Moriah is Mount Calvary and that knife's coming down and God you're going to have to raise him from the dead and that was imputed in the counting term that act that obedience was imputed unto him for righteousness Isaac said father we have the knife father we have the wood father we have the fire but where's the lamb and Abraham said God will provide himself a lamb for the sacrifice do you believe today if you don't believe you're not a friend of God you're an enemy of God but if you believe in Jesus if you've given your heart and life unto him then you're a friend he calls you a friend your epitaph is my friend Jesus is my friend friend of God no longer an enemy let's pray father we thank you that this holiday season we can celebrate the giving of your dear son the babe of Bethlehem and Lord as we approach next week as we move in that direction next week Lord we pray during this week that we'd have many opportunities to share your love the gift the gift of Christmas that you offered all humanity that the call goes out to whosoever will let him come and Lord we pray that you give us an open door that no man can shut that we'd be about our father's business that we could we could minister to people Lord who are perishing who have no hope that we could redirect their lives and point them to you that you'd bring them that place of repentance where they turn and they cry out to you Lord God be merciful to me a sinner and if your heart's crying out in that way this morning you've been religious you've been attending church for many years but you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ you don't know him you're not a friend of God if that's the cry of your heart to know God and the Holy Spirit's ministering to you and the Holy Spirit's wanting to give you a measure of faith to put your complete trust in Jesus not in the church not in man but in Jesus that's the cry of your heart you're trusting in Jesus even now just lift your hand up we want to lead you in prayer you're surrendering to his Lordship you're surrendering his sovereignty over his life you're surrendering to his finished work upon the cross of Calvary and you're going to yield your members you're going to yield your life unto Jesus as your friend in a life of obedience unto him anyone here this morning Christmas will be even better if you're his friend father thank you that we have peace with God that we experience the peace of God that the turmoil within our heart and life is gone the worrying the fighting is gone that Lord we're at rest we rest in you and Lord no matter what circumstances no matter what comes our way Lord you're teaching us to love you're teaching us what it means to be a friend to love at all times and Lord we pray evermore that we would reflect who you are that we gain endurance stamina strength even when tested Lord that we'd come out shining that we'd come out loving even more Lord reconcile relationships reconcile with those who are once our friends help us to be reconciled unto God help us leave the the world who's at war with you to be reconciled unto God bless we pray thank you Lord for choosing us in Jesus name we pray amen