Friends episode 4

uh we started this whole thing out because jesus before he goes to the cross he looks at his disciples and said i have never called you slaves i've always called you friends and this was a huge announcement by christ because up until that point you know through jewish history and all the other gods out there um we had viewed god as kind of like we're his slaves and he's our master and that does a lot of weird things to your brain the two main things jesus came to show us was god is a father he's a father so he does nothing outside of being a father so whatever a father would do he goes through he does all that through that lens and secondly he's our friend the cross proved that jesus is our friend and so i entitled this sermon today friends with everyone that we are called as far as on our end we're called to be friends with everyone different viewpoints different backgrounds different political beliefs if we're followers of jesus and jesus is friends with humanity then we are called to be friends with everyone as well tim keller who wrote that book the prodigal god he just posted this graph that was really fascinating to me and it was how friendship has died for the last 60 years uh the baby boomers were really good at making friends they're in the 50s and the 60s and i've mentioned this in my sermon but then the air conditioning was invented and before people used to sit on their porches when it was hot and talked to their neighbors now the air conditioning caused everyone to go inside you can hear the air conditioning thank god for air conditioning by the way but it did cause an effect of our circles got really small and they said now in 2021 our friendships have just dive bombed and now we have these things called phones and social media where we can act like we're friends with people we don't know and still be alone and it's an alarming trait that people are just not as interested in having a lot of friends which means i think your circle of influence gets smaller and your viewpoints get smaller and i don't think this is a good thing and so i think jesus calls us to be friends with everyone so my goal today is to show how to be friends with everyone and really that jesus is the judge he's the final judge but he's called us to be friends with all mankind it's clear to me that we live in a world right now with the 24-hour news cycle and again social media and all this stuff like you've heard me say it before that uh you know even 50 60 years ago 100 years ago you were worried about your community now we are bombarded by all the troubles of the world and i don't think we're meant to carry that and it's clear to me that the the news media in the elites of the world are dividing on purpose they're dividing on purpose it's click bait and it's it's it's to get us you know into camps because you can't control people when you're together when they're you not you can't control people who are united so you have to divide people in order to control them it's so obvious what's going on i mean these even the way they phrase headlines and all kinds of stuff and so we are literally living in an age where we are being intentionally divided and i saw this within the christian community though so um i i try not to worry about what the world's doing but we are here to be challenged uh as the church and i saw this in 2008 when mr obama was elected i saw a lot of conservative christians call out rick warren the pastor for praying at the inauguration they're like how could you go pray you know for a guy like that or whatever and my view is like what's the other option like would jesus not go pray and try to bless people but then i saw it again in 2016 where people were like you know calling out the christians who were praying for donald trump's inauguration and i'm like what is what is going on here there's this definite divide that we like to do ourselves billy graham who was the famous evangelist he was nicknamed saint billy he got critiqued his entire ministry because he became friends with everyone he would become friends with dictators he'd become friends with presidents he'd become friends with people who did a lot of awful stuff and he got criticized for that and it does show that like sometimes that we need to show some grace to people because imagine just being in a room full of people and you get a picture with someone and then that person goes off and does something awful and then all of a sudden you're you're like attached to that person when you didn't even do it and billy graham got a lot of pictures with a lot of people but maybe that's why his ministry was so effective because he was just friends with people dictators everything and he he didn't soften the gospel down but he started with friendship one of his best-known friends was one of my favorite country singers johnny cash he became friends with johnny they they i think there's a book called the sinner and the saint but johnny cash went through a bunch of stuff got caught with some drugs had struggles his whole life uh but him and billy graham were really good friends and he johnny cash was struggling with some of his old songs now that he was a follower of christ and he was wondering if he should sing folsom prison blues anymore because he's talking about cocaine and i think killing people all kinds of stuff and he goes to billy graham for advice and he's like should i be going to prisons and singing these songs and billy graham says that's exactly what you should be doing and he said when you sing those songs about guns and war and all that stuff he goes you sing it loud but when you sing the gospel songs sing it louder and johnny cash had this amazing ministry going to prisons and preaching and singing to these people because he was friends with everyone and so i think the one of my things in this sermon today is just to break down this view and break down a lot of this tribalism that we have and one thing that it's proven to me in the church what we've done is we've we've slipped into moralism again that's what the pharisees tried that's what religion tries that's what all religions try to do is try to control people or shape people into the way we think they should be and so we've given into moralism and we've missed our model who is jesus christ i think sometimes we think jesus is freaking out about stuff because we're freaking out about stuff and jesus is like i'm not freaking out about that because you know that god would have to be surprised to freak out about something he is our model so who is our model jesus christ what did he model for us in luke 5 it says matthew wanted to throw a banquet to honor jesus so he invited jesus to his home for dinner along with many of levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests but the jewish religious leaders and experts of the law complained to jesus's disciples why would you defile yourselves by eating and drinking with liberals and conservatives with tax collectors and sinners doesn't jesus know it's wrong to do that i don't think jesus cared because he did it and so there is truth i don't want you to hear me saying that there isn't truth there is right and wrong there is good and evil but jesus modeled to us that change starts with friendship friendship is key to understanding the truth friendship is key to opening up our spiritual lenses to understand things i love what one commentary writes about this passage this is important he says luke the gospel of luke draws specific attention to the fact that sinners are celebrating their friendship with jesus the most labeled sinners in society were irresistibly attracted to him what the prostitutes and publicans witnessed in his life mirrored the redeemed integrity of their own because they're made in his image they knew this is important they knew that what they thought to be their life was a lie basically just hanging around jesus they realized how fake they were and what that also means is if they were comfortable around jesus jesus was comfortable around the real them he didn't come in and say okay we're gonna have dinner as soon as you do one through ten things and change he's like we're just gonna have dinner and so they grew up in this religious system where there was this fake facade you had to put on uh you know the fake look so everyone thought you were a good jew and may i say in christianity don't we have to do the same thing you have to say the right words say the right lingo we call it if you're new we call that christianese that's our own language you have to say the right stuff but it's all fake it's fake it's like people come up to you you know how's your day going you're like it's good it's not and we feel like it so the point of this is he's saying is fake facade fake friends equals fake change but real friendship brings real change i love what the apostle paul says in romans 12. this is great do your best to live as everybody's friend so what he's saying is as far as it on your end not everyone's going to be your friend but you should try to be everybody's friend not everyone's going to get down with with who you are but that doesn't mean you can't still be friends with them so paul is saying this message of grace this message of jesus starts with friendship it starts with just enjoying people for who they are over the fourth of july weekend uh we were invited to stay at this campground with some friends of ours relatives who started this campground and um we were really looking forward to it but beforehand we kind of got prepped that these people aren't christians and they have strong political views and they will probably cuss around your children and we're like okay it was weird that we felt like we had to be prepped for this because we're pastors you know we're christians we were like awesome can't wait they lived up to it and it was so enjoyable they were so great we thoroughly enjoyed their company because we made a choice to be their friends we didn't make they weren't our projects because i can't fix me so i can't fix you and we made a conscious effort to just be their friends and it was so much more fun it was amazing but there's something in this that thinks that like you know we have to be something different i love what bruxy cavey says that's his real name if you're born bruxy cavey you have to be a theologian right or a bull writer i'm not sure but he says stop trying to be the judge of another person's soul one you're not good at it two the position is taken that's good stuff right there but it's true we're constantly judging people on the outside and all kinds of stuff so i believe true friendships they really take hold and this is our goal being friends with god friends with people the better we see ourselves as friends with god we can be better friends with people the true test of friendship is when you stop trying to make someone who you think they should be and you accept them for where they're at right now that's the sign of friendship and jesus modeled it he modeled it for us there's this great scene in first corinthians where paul um he's seen that there's a break in friendship in the church the corinthian church the corinthian church is all messed up but he's so encouraging to them and imagine imagine that back then you had these these jewish people who were so used to this religious system they were used to eating certain things not eating certain things and then you get them mingled with the romans who was like anything goes anything goes it's a beautiful picture of what the church should be but that comes with some issues and so these people were kind of getting upset with these dietary rules like what they were eating so paul by the way paul was a very convicted jew he was the pharisee of pharisees he said so like it wasn't that he wasn't convicted but paul had this beautiful way of seeing through the the surface level stuff and getting to the heart of things the spiritual matters so he finally writes the church because there's division in the church over food and he says this now let me address the issue of food offered in sacrifice to idols it seems that everyone believes his own opinion is right on this matter i'm going to read that again it seems that everyone believes his opinion is right on this matter how easily we get puffed up over our opinions so what we're struggling with in 2021 isn't new it's just humanity if they would have had social media they would have been posting their friends eating food from idols and mocking them but love builds up the structure of our new life if anyone thinks of himself as a know-it-all he still has a lot to learn if anyone thinks himself as a know-it-all he still has a lot to learn now yes the apostle paul had deep convictions but here's what i appreciate about the new testament he always started with you're saved you're accepted you're loved jesus did it but you're acting like a bunch of two-year-olds that's pretty much the whole new testament but he never challenged their salvation he never challenged if or do you really believe he challenged these things but he always chose relationship over conviction he always chose relationship over conviction what did jesus say the two most powerful laws are love god love people love god love people he always chose relationship over conviction so let's be honest just personalize this it's it's a slippery slope between our convictions and self-righteousness it's a slippery slope between us saying like we're we're grounded in something and this is what we believe into just thinking that we're better than people and we look down on people if we all struggle with it we all go through it we live in missoula and missoula is a funny little town i love missoula but there's a lot of bumper stickers in missoula montana and i think bumper stickers are funny right like what you are willing to put on your bumper for everyone to see says a lot about you but it is interesting there's a weird conundrum when you pull up behind someone and forgive me if you're this person but and they have 85 bumper stickers telling you what they believe because i'm always like where do we even start where do we start like it's just it's already telling people your opinion this is what my opinion is that i don't know how to have a conversation with that i had to laugh i was at walmart a couple weeks ago and there was one you had the coexist bumper sticker great the other side was i believe in the separation of church and hate and i'm like do you want us to coexist or not right so we all have these opinions we live in an opinionated town we live in an opinionated world so how do we kind of break through this i want you to think of the relationships that have been ruined maybe in your life or just people you know over beliefs over religion and over politics think of the relationships ruined over politics i have a lot of thoughts on mr trump i believe he's a narcissistic egomaniac it's obvious however i also thought people returned the favor so many people i've read article after article people were saying i can't even be friends with this person anymore or it broke up families is that right dude these opinions that would actually break relationship over this stuff so paul goes on to say and this is really interesting okay so he's talking about food and sacrifice to idols and their opinions and he says he starts calling them the weaker brother he's saying people who get worked up over this food sacrifice stuff they're actually the weaker ones so i want to hear what i'm saying here we've been taught that if you have these strong convictions and you blurt them out with a megaphone on the street corner that makes you the strong christian paul is saying you're actually the weaker one if you can't see through all your convictions and see people you're actually the weaker brother because you don't really care about the community you care about your own opinion so he act we've kind of reversed this in the church we think people who have certain convictions about alcohol which is a great thing uh certain convictions about politics it was a great thing we think they're the strong ones he's actually saying no when you divide over your opinions you're the weaker one so that's super fascinating to read so what's our response to the weaker brother he said so i conclude that if my eating certain food deeply offends my brother and hinders his advance in christ i will never eat it again i don't want to be guilty of causing my brother or sister to be wounded and defeated do i think paul ever ate meat again after this of course yes i do but he's modeling what it looks like to be true friends with everyone that if we can't set aside certain convictions in order to show the love of christ to people then we're just wrong it doesn't even matter if our convictions are right we're wrong if we're putting those in front of relationship we are called to be friends with everyone and that takes a laying down of our self that takes a laying down of our egos to see the person and i don't want to walk out here today and not not wrestle with that because we all have opinions and we all have struggles and we all have that stuff let's be the church let's be the people that is willing to inside be like yes i don't agree with that but i love you i love you let's be the change i also believe as i have gotten older that one of the ways you lay down your ego is instead of you trying to change your friends you realize you can learn something from your friends too a lot of times we're just there to make them like us and that's kind of the height of arrogance that you should be more like me i think a a key to being friends with everyone is if we go into these relationships with your co-workers who are tough maybe they think you're tough too and we go into being like what can i learn from this person's experience as well so hear me out the bible is the greatest book of letters ever put together it's inspired by god meaning we have everything we need for faith and practice we don't need any more for faith and practice it's a wonderful wonderful book the problem though with the bible is it is a very dangerous book because you can either use the bible as a weapon or you can use it as an ointment and jesus called himself the great physician and so oftentimes we use this book as a weapon instead of a healing thing and all the bible is is these people's opinion leading to one place jesus christ he's the final word of god and i've said this before and we're going to look at a passage to the second half of this sermon right now we're going to look at a passage that has been weaponized and i'm going to break it down to free us uh to be able to be friends with everyone but i've said this before one of the problems with us reading the bible is we're always the good guy i'm always jesus i'm always joshua i'm never the priest walking around this the the guy who got beaten up on the road i'm the good samaritan rubbing my oil on him we're always the good guy and that's a problem and so we use some of these verses as a weapon so we're going to look at one that i believe has been used as a weapon when actually it was something that was meant to bring healing to people and jesus sends 72 of his disciples out now i'm going to get into this but why didn't he go with them that's an important question why did he send them out on their own but he sends them out to these towns that were kind of reputable they didn't necessarily necessarily agree with their politics or agree with their lifestyles and he sends them out and he gives them instructions before they go so don't take this as him giving them instructions take this as him giving you instructions because after today your mission field is out there you're going to go love people at your job at school whatever it is so he's speaking this to you and he says this whatever house you enter first say the wrath of god is upon you first say are you vegan or do you eat meat he says the first thing we say to bring friendship peace be with you what better greeting than that peace be with you and if a son of peace is there your peace will rest upon him but if not it will return to you this pastor i follow online from new york posted this this morning i actually copied it so it's not up there but just listen to what he has to say he says in a world torn by rage and anxiety one of the greatest gifts followers of jesus are called to offer is simple non-anxious presence not a presence removed from this reality but a presence that refuses to be shaped by it the lord spoke something to me a couple months ago that has just really helped me because i'm a very convicted person i really am um and the i feared the same way our parents feared for us in the world we're going to grow in i got two little kids and there's a fear with that and i heard it so clearly in my morning prayers he said scotty that's what he calls me scotty my mom called me scotty so i think it's my mom's voice but it's okay he says whatever the world is freaking out about don't freak out about that and i like i process that he's like what everyone else is posting what everyone else is getting upset at what everyone else is super freaked out about don't freak out about that because i got that and it was a super freeing thing for me because think about this in a world of unrest isn't it so easy to lose your peace right now in 2021 24 hour news cycle that like i said those news stories are click bait it's so easy to read something that's happening uh in san francisco or new york or whatever and be like you're there and you're not there it's so easy to be on facebook and see one little comment and set you off for the rest of the day or you're like i'm going to get them i'm going to tell you what's up you just lost your piece you just lost your peace and so what's our response jesus says well if you go and you offer them peace if they are a man of peace they'll accept it if not it will return to you i think we've taken this the wrong way i think we've taken this into being like well fine i'll just take my piece and go sucks to be you i'm here to give you my peace and you don't want it i'm taking it back give me my piece back give me my piece back that's how we've read this verse and i think we have a better response than that and that's not what this verse is talking about it's not saying take your peace back what it's saying is no matter how other people react you keep your peace because you're not the savior of mankind you don't say give me my piece back he's saying it will return to you so no matter what happens no matter what someone says on facebook no matter what someone says on instagram no matter what cnn or fox news is saying keep your peace because you're good with jesus that's the beauty of being friends with jesus that's why i did this series for me too that the more you see your friends with god if god is for you who can be against you it gives you a sense of peace because jesus said i'm the prince of peace when all the disciples were freaking out in a room after the the crucifixion he comes to the room his first words were peace be with you he wants us to have peace in a scary scary world and here's the cool part i study the greek and the aramaic because jesus spoke aramaic and there's been some things lost in the greek the aramaic for this verse says let him rest upon your peace so what this means is is that co-worker or that friend or whatever when you come and you try to give them peace if they don't receive it you're actually supposed to to leave it there so they can rest upon your peace that's so much better than being like well whatever man one of my favorite scenes is when john and peter are walking into the synagogue and there's a a crippled person there and the crippled person says up says to them can i have some money and peter says silver and gold have i not but what i give you is in the name of the lord jesus christ and that man is healed my favorite part of that story is it says the man didn't get up peter stuck his hand out and what peter was saying is i know you don't believe but i believe i will help you with your belief i extend my faith to you and so it's the same way with peace when we are supposed to be people of peace we are to give our peace and allow people to feel our peace and the only way we can feel our peace is by having peace with god verse 7 goes on to say and remain in that house he didn't tell him to leave he didn't tell him to get out of there because they didn't believe the same thing they did eating and drinking what they provide that's a tough one for me not gonna lie for the laborer deserves his wages do not go from house to house meaning don't give up on people whenever you enter a town and they receive you eat what is set before you heal the sick in it and say to them the kingdom of god has come near again often when we feel this struggle when someone doesn't receive our peace we take our peace and go and jesus says no you stay there and you even eat with them even if they're vegans you vegans are way more healthy than me i'm gonna tell you right now but it would be hard for me to come to your house and you just hand me a bowl kale i'd be like there's a traeger in the back right you're gonna bring it out a little bit right but that's about me that's about me we're always trying to put our convictions on to other people jesus clearly says here you eat whatever they give you and do you understand the significance of this so this is why he sent them out and didn't go with them because he was trying to break them of their convictions their religion and the law saying you can't eat certain things and they were judging people for eating certain things he was like be free be free from this have as many otter pops as you want kids it's all good if it brings a relationship with the other kids in the neighborhood share an otter pop with him that's what he's saying he's talking to them in this childlike way to be like be free from this and what he's really saying is are you gonna take your convictions over relationship i had a dear friend a good pastor he's retired now in this town and he's one of the most peace loving men i've ever been around just an amazing guy he was a very convicted guy very conservative but not in a stuck up way he just was a loving man and he told me this story where he went on a mission trip over to russia and we've heard in america that russians like vodka it's true they do this man has never taken a drink in his entire life and he goes to russia and he sits down and they put a bottle of vodka on the table and pour him a tall drink and i was like what'd you do man he goes i drank the entire glass and i was like did you throw up man like what you've never drank before and he said scott it was crazy he goes i prayed i said god just don't let me get drunk and he said i drank an entire glass of vodka the first drink i ever had and i didn't even feel it and i was like that ain't a good thing man like that's not good you have a way high tolerance you didn't even know it but i really believe that was a miracle like the lord was like you are choosing relationship over conviction and he said it was a great time talking about their savior so again why didn't he go with the disciples because he was teaching them that you're to be friends with people he's the savior we're to be friends with everyone he's saying don't get discouraged don't let opinions don't let convictions get in the way of being friendships i speak for myself and i realize as i'm doing this this sermon i'm like how many times have i gone into a conversation or a relationship or a friendship thinking i'm going to fix them and then when you go into it that way one you miss you need fixing and two you miss the person you just see all this behavior you see things you disagree and you miss the actual person in which jesus loved notice this is a big one for me i'm going to keep saying this notice jesus never said go into the town and pronounce judgment over them he said go into the town and preach the kingdom and it says the kingdom is now it's not in the future it's right now preach the kingdom to them i hope that you see what i'm doing today with this sermon and what jesus was doing is can't you just feel the freedom he's offering us can you just feel the freedom go be friends with people just go love people go be friends i'll take care of the rest you go be friends there's a special freedom within that that's why i said a couple weeks ago in my sermon that people are not your projects they're jesuses and jesus is a way better friend of them than you and i are so let's just be friends let's be friends with people he goes on to say this in verse 10. but and this is this is the one we've kind of flipped but whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you go into its streets and say even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you nevertheless know this that the kingdom of god has come near and i tell you it will be more bearable on that day the day of judgment for sodom than for that town now again we have read this like well they didn't receive it i did my part have fun in hell no joke i did this when i was a new believer i did it i was probably six months into walking with jesus thought i knew everything right and i'm at a garden bar with my friend and some great conversations came up and there was this one couple who kind of started mocking us and we just kept talking and finally they were kept mocking us and you know like i said i'm six months into my walk with christ and finally i just said whatever right in front of their face and i walked off and they chased after me and wanted to know more they didn't i literally did that because i took the bible literally in this so young arrogant fundamentalist scotty missed that i was meant to be a blessing not a curse that's not what this verse means i read the literal translation sometimes it's called young's literal translation it gets rid of all the fluff but it is in old english listen to how it put how this says it and the dust that hath cleaved to us from your city we do wipe off against you but this know ye that the reign of god hath come nigh to you what jesus is really saying here is don't let that discouragement go with you but also leave your peace with them you leave your peace because jesus is the prince of peace and so no matter how many people react to a certain way he says the kingdom of god is near so leave your peace with them and what i see jesus saying is i'm not going to give up on them but you're just not the guy but don't worry i got other guys i always like to call it the bullpen right it's like sometimes you're not the guy the starter pitching goes out just doesn't work out ring in the ring in the bullpen because that's who jesus is he's a good friend and he's long suffering so he's saying you leave your peace there and i will be back to this situation jesus clearly said in matthew 5 this is one of the hardest verses for us to understand you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your father in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous you know people in your life who just they don't aren't living a great life and it seems like everything they touch turns to gold we've all had that friend and you're like i don't have that friend well then it's you it's you you know why because jesus isn't petty he blesses because that's who he is he gives grace because that's who he is and i'm always amazed that people will take the book of revelation literal like flaming horns and goats and all kinds of stuff and then when we read this they're like i don't know i'm like i'm pretty sure he meant this love your enemies pray for those who persecute you leave your peace with them we are called to be friends with everyone not everyone's going to want to be your friend but we're called to be friends with everyone and nothing is to deter that because jesus is the final judge he's the final judge in all things and he does give these towns a warning he says woe to you chairs on woe to you bethsaida for if the mighty works done in you had been done in tyree and said on they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes but it will be more bearable in the day of judgment which again i believe this is the destruction of jerusalem and when the romans wiped out pretty much israel for tyree and saddam than for you and you capernaum will you be exalted to heaven you shall be brought down to hades the one who hears you hears me the one who rejects you rejects me and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me again let me break this down you have to read the whole passage to get the context but this is a serious warning he's warning them this is a very serious warning you know why because friends also tell each other the truth friends tell each other the truth even in warnings but the early church fathers they viewed the scriptures as literal and then historical and they say but the most important part is the spiritual the spiritual this book is spiritual the word hades means to not see it means to not see so this is a warning if you reject friendship with jesus the only other friendship you can accept is from the world and the world is lying to you it is lying to who you are it's lying to who your identity is it's lying to you and so this is a warning he's saying if you're going to reject the grace of jesus there's only one other place you can go and it's a place filled with lies but here's the beauty of this you have to take the whole bible together and i told you that good friends if you've been here the last couple weeks good friends never give up on each other right you never give up on each other so yes in the old testament god brought judgment on sodom and gomorrah but that's not the end of the story look at ezekiel 16 i will restore their fortunes the fortunes of sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of samaria and her daughters and i will restore your own fortunes along with theirs in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done saying that israel was judging them and they were doing the same things they were becoming a consolation to them as for your sisters sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state samaria and her daughter shall return to their former state and you and your daughters shall return to your former state the reason i bring this up is because yes there's judgment that's not our job to do it but it's also our job to know that when we share the good news of jesus we know jesus is never going to give up on that community or that person because that's who he is and so we wipe the dust saying we leave our peace with you and we leave room for jesus i'm just not the guy and jesus here's the good news he would go to samaria he would go to tyree he would go to saddam and share the good news and they accepted the grace of jesus because he's their best friend what jesus is saying is to all of us i'll handle salvation you handle friendship i'll handle salvation you be friends with everyone the main reason that he sent the disciples ahead of him and didn't go was to break them of their their prejudice their judgments and their religion he's doing that same thing with us listen to how paul concludes his instructions to the corinthians whether you eat or drink live your life in a way that glorifies and honors god and make sure you're not offending jews or greeks republicans or democrats or any part of god's assembly over your personal preference follow my example for i try to please everyone in all things rather than putting my liberty first i sincerely attempt to do anything i can so that others may be saved paul learned this from jesus and this is our model we all have different convictions we all have different beliefs on things our main call is to be friends with everyone let's be friends with everyone as far it is on our end band you can come on up so my wife and i are are teaching this to our children we are teaching our children not to divide it doesn't mean we're not teaching our children right and wrong it doesn't mean we don't have long talks about what's going on in society but we we always end with but we love them but we love them but we love them but we love them we are teaching our children this and you can see it my son is friends with everybody so many different personalities and he's just down for the cause he's like you want to play legos cool want to jump on the cool want to play vids cool like he's just down for the cause and a few years ago my daughter came home and they're almost tired of hearing it at this point because my wife and i just keep saying the same thing over and over to them my daughter came home and society's changing there's just things going on in society that are changing and she said dad there was a boy in my class last year who is now a girl and i said well what do you think you should do about it and she goes love them i said good answer and i said honey if you ever see them alone eating lunch go sit by and i said if you ever see people bullying them stand up for them and don't ever be a part of the bullying and we've said it so much now whenever these issues get brought up and i say what should you do about it she goes love them and that brings us so much joy because it's like she gets it my kids get it we never let them divide we never let them bully we never we just say love them and they are such great examples for christ so as i close the series out let's be better friends with god you have to know you're friends with god you are friends with the father almighty god of the universe because he told you he was the cross proved he's your friend [Music] and when we see that as a church let's be better friends with other people [Music] let's let nothing stop us let's be the difference let's do let's break the political divide in missoula and america and we're just a little peon in the whole system but who knows what god's gonna do let's break this system and be friends with everyone and i just want you to know that as this series i've really enjoyed this series i've really loved doing it but this series isn't scott me telling you i'm a good friend because this was convicting for me i was thinking all the way back to high school and college and how many times i've just been a bad friend i've been introducing you to jesus jesus is my best friend and that's not a bumper sticker that's not a cliche thing he's my best friend and every attribute that i've explained is not something scott does it's what jesus does jesus gives people room to grow and sometimes we're stubborn and we don't want to go and he stands there and waits with us like a good friend [Music] jesus tells us the truth but he never breaks relationship with us never breaks relationship with us jesus is the best friend that we have he gives us room and time to grow in our sins because he starts with forgiveness i love how he starts with forgiveness you're in you're at the table you're in and that's how we grow i love what c.s lewis says he says friendship is born at the moment when one man says to another what you too i love that because in week one i said how is jesus friends with all of us because we're all so different because we're all made of the image of god your personality traits jesus has and so i just want to this isn't a warning it's an invitation that as c.s lewis says it takes two to be friends it takes two jesus has already committed himself to you as your friend but you have to believe this you have to believe this message you have to believe and you have to say i want to be your friend i want to be your friend too and that has been my goal for this is just introducing you to jesus christ and say yes i want to be friends with god because this won't activate until you believe it and it's just like anything you tell people you're their friend i tell ty he's my best friend and we hug and kiss it's awesome no we don't we hug i'm like thanks for coming over like you're my man i appreciate you like you say that to your friends say that to jesus say that to jesus that he's your friend and through the highs and lows of emotions and people rejecting you whatever it is he never does he's your best friend so today we saved communion till the end so go ahead and pull out communion start peeling that top off it takes about an hour so good luck the more i study the incarnation the more communion is amazing because what you're actually doing there with that wafer is do you know that the incarnation jesus becoming man was him becoming us and so the reason he gave his communion is so every time you eat you are becoming one with christ you are reminding yourself you're one with christ when you eat that delicious chicken sandwich from wendy's you are acknowledging you are one with christ because you are eating and that food becomes one with you so right now when you take that way for say i'm a friend of god just say it in your mind i'm a friend of god and do that in remembrance of him [Music] and when you take this juice and you're becoming one with christ say a prayer let me be a better friend let me be a better friend to people that i might show the light of your goodness and if you've never believed in christ if you're new with us you are welcome to take communion but when you take it you're saying i want to be friends with god and i believe that he is friends with me and do this in remembrance of him father let us break the streak let us break through this madness in society of division and let us be friends with everyone surprise us with friendship help us lay aside our convictions not that they're not true but that you value relationship over conviction let us see that you're friends with us so that we can be better friends with people and thank you so much for proving on the cross and the resurrection that you're our best friend in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Zootown Church

Views: 45

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: 9bry0wNMh8E

Length: 45min 32sec (2732 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 12 2021