The High Call of Friendship

[Music] ii timothy 2 timothy chapter 4 and let's let's start reading in verse 9. i want to talk to you about the high call the high call of friendship you ready say uh-huh say uh-huh we're ready we're ready there we go be diligent to come to me quickly for demas has forsaken me having loved this present world and departed for thessalonica the christians for galatia and titus 4 dalmatia only luke is with me luke the force is with you get mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for ministry and tychicus i have sent to ephesus bring the cloak that i have left with carpus at troas when you come in the books especially the parchments alexander the coppersmith did me all kinds of harm may the lord get him i mean paul was not playing you must also be aware of him for he has greatly resisted our words at my first defense no one no one no one stood with me all forsook me poor paul may it not be charged again against them thank you but the lord stood with me strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me so that all the gentiles might hear also i was delivered out of the mouth of a lion just so you know and the lord delivered me from every evil work and preserved me for his heavenly kingdom to him be glory for ever and ever amen greet priestka and aquila in the household of anesthesis and erastus stayed in corinth but tropheepmas i left in melitus sick do your most utmost to come before winter eubulus that's right ubulus greets you as well as the putins lidus claudia and all the other brethren finally one we can pronounce the lord jesus christ be with your spirit grace be with you everybody say amen amen amen amen i can feel your judgment a little bit on my pronunciation skills and i don't appreciate it and if you have enough time to think through how to pronounce every single one of those names you have too much time way too much time way too much time and we can help you out with that yubulous ubulous how many of y'all know uvulos had to know how to fight right if your parents name you ubulus and you're seven years old and you get on the bus you better know how to handle yourself because it's not going to be good for you ubulus uvulous greets you you know when we hear these names to us they're kind of trivial like you know come on why are you even mentioning those scriptures why are you even mentioning those names i mean what's what's the point and even though they might be trivial to us the great apostle paul is is talking about the difference that these people made in his life and i think it's important that we also look at the fact that when paul goes through these people that made a difference in his life he sandwiches in the list his enemies he talks about demas how demas had forsaken him he talks about alexander the coppersmith how alexander the coppersmith caused him much harm and when you think about that with me it's almost like to me paul the apostle has this tone of gratitude not just for his friends but also for his enemies i don't think he's grateful for the pain that they caused him i don't think he's grateful for the issues that were created i think he is grateful because his enemies taught him how to have a how to be a better friend and the reason i could say that is because right in between demas and alexander the coppersmith these two people that really came against paul and really hurt paul we find he mentions hey go get john mark who is useful to me for ministry and if you know anything about the background of paul the apostle you would know that on a missionary journey paul is on is is with this man by the name of john mark and paul gets so discouraged and upset with john mark that he kicks john mark off of the missionary team he kicks them off and barnabas shows up and is so mad at paul because he really doesn't feel like there's anything justifiable for why he would kick john mark to the curb and so barnabas and paul are fighting two leaders in the church are fighting so severely that they part ways the bible says on this mission strip and they leave to totally different countries over john mark so after paul faces some enemies he's humbled enough that he says hey would you give john mark a call and tell him maybe that i was a little too harsh on him and so we find that paul's enemies actually made him a better friend a kinder friend a softer friend a more gentle friend a more faithful friend than what he had been before his enemies caused him to drop his judgments a little bit and he's thanking god he's listing the people that made a difference in his life and he is listing his enemies he is listing those people that usually would have caused most to shut down on their other relationships would you agree that life would be pretty amazing if you didn't need people i know you're in church today but momentarily i think we could all think about most of the areas of our life that are messed up and we can attach a name to it right and wouldn't it be amazing if you just didn't need people i mean you just didn't need them of course we're in church we know of course it's a set up right this is a sermon set up that you you need people you maybe can act like you don't need them you've maybe created a way of going at life that you're acting like you don't need them but the truth is there's nothing more dangerous than not having great friends in your life and maybe even more importantly there's nothing more dangerous than not being a great friend not knowing how to be a great friend and that's what paul is saying he's saying listen i had these enemies but more importantly i had these friends and i became who i was wasn't perfect along the way but i can't became who i was because of these friends so real quick five friends five kinds of people that everyone needs in their life how many all like lists you like some lists all right so five friends five friends real quick i like lists so much that lists are at the top of my list things i like number one someone that will lift you up someone that will lift you up acts chapter 9 verse 17. the bible says ananias shows up at the house of paul and he lays hands on him and he says to him lord the lord jesus who appeared to you on the road as he came sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the holy spirit and immediately there fell from his eyes things like scales and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized in other words paul is in a dark place he's in a blinded place he's in a down place and god sends him an ananias to lift him one of the most important qualities we could have and one of the most important things we can all have in our life is the quality of being a lifter the quality of knowing that that people in life get so beat down they get so discouraged the world does it their friends do it their family members do it the people they love do it their own heck we do it to ourselves can i get an amen real quick we beat ourselves down and every now and then we need somebody to enter our life and and not let us stay in a down place but we need those annihiasis that will show up in our life and lift us if the great apostle paul needed someone to lift him i think that you and i are crazy to think that we may not also need someone that will enter our life and say man listen no i mean ananias ignored paul's history he ignored the fact that he had murdered his brothers in christ he he ignored his present condition he ignored everything that was going on in his life and he simply walked in and he lifted him and the bible says he arose and not just was was he lifted but the bible says he then was baptized which means what made ananias such a great friend was not because he lifted paul but because he pointed paul to the one that could sustain him and continue to lift him no matter what he was facing in life in other words a really great lifter knows i can lift you so high but if i'm a really good friend i'm going to be able to tell you hey i'm going to fail you i'm going to drop the ball but i can introduce you to the one that will always lift you will never leave you will never forsake you he sticks closer than a brother and his name is jesus and every great friend knows how to introduce somebody to the greatest friend so ananias shows up he's not looking at paul's life and he lifts him he lifts him and he says hey listen there's so many things that are better than what you're currently experiencing we all need number one to be lifters number two we need people that will not only lift us but people that will let us out we need people that will lift us out but then let us out we need people that will do more than give us a hand out they'll give us a hand up a lot of people in church have been lifted up but they've not been let out let me say it like this they're saved but they're not free and that is a miserable place to be it's miserable to know jesus to know that he's savior to know his love for you but your whole life outside of a room like this does not match that and that dichotomy is so difficult on a person to where many people live their whole christian life the way i would i look at it as remember the in the scripture there's the guys that they're watching paul and paul said follow me as i follow christ really big key there you're not looking at them you're looking at how they follow christ how do they follow him that's most importantly is how did he get close to jesus not not that i'm following him but they're following paul i think this is acts 19 or 21 i read it this week just off the top of my head but the the they're watching paul all these extraordinary miracles he's casting out demons and every time he does a miracle he says in the name of jesus and so these these jewish leaders these chief priests called the sons of skeva they go and they try to do the same thing that's paul is doing and they do it in jesus name and the demon that they're trying to cast out of this guy speaks up and starts talking to him this is crazy stuff right he speaks up and he says paul i know jesus i know but who are you and the demon inside of this guy overpowers these seven men one guy overpowers seven men jumps them and is beating them up so severely that the bible says they run out of the house bloody and naked the demon ripped their clothes off and beat them to where they're bloody and that's the picture of most people in church if you could see their spirit and their soul man they are bloodied they're be beaten and they're running they can say in the name of jesus they can say it but the truth of the matter is the enemy is beating the lights out of them because they're saved but they're not free and the enemy's pounding them over and over and they're and they don't get it because they think well i did what he did i said what he said yeah but you don't understand you've got to know the jesus that paul knew it doesn't do any good if i know how to say the name of jesus know how to sing the name of jesus know how to quote these things i've got to be able to not just be saved but free i not only need help being lifted up i need help being let out right the good samaritan was the good samaritan not because he found a guy in a ditch and threw him some bandages and lifted him up he's the good samaritan because he lifted him up and then he let him out he didn't just see the wound and say hey you can get better he actually led him to the place that he could be better everywhere you read in scripture any time jesus came in contact with someone he didn't just save them he made sure that they were free it didn't stop at salvation it didn't stop out of prayer it didn't stop at receiving grace receiving mercy awesome good starting point but sometimes we start there and then we live decades of our life still bound still in bondage still attached to all these things that we know are not pleasing to god we know are not what god's will are for us and and because no one's told us yeah you can be saved but as as importantly maybe not as importantly but definitely right up underneath that you can be free you can be free you can be completely listen to me please listen to me and you know what forget don't listen to me listen to the heart of god behind what i'm saying you can be free you have to be free you have to be god life is so much better when you're free you say what are you talking about you know exactly what i'm talking about you know immediately when i say that what you're not free from immediately you can attach your mind say yeah you're right you're absolutely right i'm not i'm saved but i'm not living free not because i'm saying you have it i just sense in my heart that that many in here know it's exactly where you're at jesus calls lazarus out of the tomb right he's dead four days calls him out lazarus is hopping out of the tomb that's the illustration this weekend right there that's the best you're going to get this weekend come back next week we'll have a better illustration he's hopping out of the tomb and everybody's celebrating everybody's going crazy because it's a miracle this is an unbelievable miracle he's dead for four days and now he's alive they're celebrating like we would celebrate it's powerful and it's wonderful and jesus is like whoa stop why are you celebrating well because this guy has been dead for four days and you raised him from the dead and we feel like that if there's any point where we should just like praise god probably one of them and jesus is like no no no the miracle is not done it's not done i've done my part but now you do your part the bible says he's still wrapped in his grave clothes and he tells the disciples go and wrap him he's alive he's not free you have to unwrap him and the disciples have to get their hands in grave clothes nasty smelly stuck to his decaying flesh that's right messed up and they have to unwrap him because not only should we hear him call us into new life we should make sure that all those things that are attached to us because of the life we've lived and where we've been and the death that attaches itself to us in the world we need to be free from that we need to be free from that number one we need people lift us up but number two we need people that will let us out let us out number three number three we need people that will let us in people that will let us in some of the most powerful moments of my life have been when someone let me in they didn't just care for me love me pray for me i had a sense that they were inviting me in to their circle some of my worst moments in life especially in church life was when i felt like i was being pushed out i was just something about being pushed out but being let in has made such an impact on my life and we need people that will let us in invite us that's what small groups really are small groups are people that are opening their homes opening their lives opening their schedule opening their time and trust me it's not like they don't have anything better to do it's not like it's not risky for them to open their life but what are they doing they're saying hey listen we know that life change is not sustained just because you're lifted up in a church service and it's not sustained even when you're free you have to now get in a community of people that you can begin to find out how to live this out one with another and you have to have people that will let you in paul the apostle who the scales fell off of his eyes he has that road to damascus experience god changes his life he goes from being a murderer to an apostle and he's going to churches and as he goes to these churches when they hear he's coming they don't show up at church that day and rightfully so they're not going to come to church because the people in the churches are the widows and orphans and the reason they're widows and orphans is because paul actually killed their dad killed their husband killed their son so they don't want to show up at church because paul the apostle was a well-known assassin of the early church he would he was he killed he's right there holding the coats is there stoning stephen the first martyr in in the new testament so so no way they're not coming to church they think it's a setup they don't believe paul they don't they don't believe that that he's one of them and barnabas has to go ahead of paul into these synagogues and say paul is coming formally saul who persecuted and killed christians he's coming i vouch for him and the people reluctantly would come into the church and they would allow paul to tell his testimony and begin to walk them through the scriptures because barnabas vouched for him because barnabas let him in he said why why why is that so important it's important because paul the apostle would have never been who he is we wouldn't have half of the new testament we wouldn't have all the pauline epistles all of these letters i mean these are the letters that have introduced us to grace introduced us to to how to understand uh mercy and faith and i mean you go through the scriptures and you look at some of the greatest revelations concerning who jesus is and how we know who he is all came from the apostle paul we would have none of those letters if it wasn't for barnabas who not only vouched for paul but made sure that paul had a platform number four i'll go quickly that was a quick one number two our number four they we need people that will level us out level us out lift this up what's number two help me out what's that there you go that's good many people will let us out number three let us in awesome man you guys are amazing i can't even remember my own points that's why i'm asking you to quote them back to me and then number four level us out level us out in acts chapter 9 verse 30 31 you can look at it maybe they'll throw it on the screens and this revival breaks out in the city that paul's preaching in and as the revival breaks out right next to the revival is a riot so there's a revival and a riot going on simultaneously and the church leaders come to paul and even though he's really the leader of this revival he's also the reason for the riot and so they come to him they say hey paul you know we appreciate what you're doing but you know you're making a lot of people mad you're sort of a lightning rod you're sort of like attracting you know the wrong kind of attention here uh we're gonna ask you to go ahead and leave they asked paul to leave and they don't just ask him to leave like don't go down the road they ask him and this is in bible time so this is before like cars and interstates and all that so they asked him to go to cesara 43 miles down the road 43 miles away 43 mile in bible times this is like you know from here to you know timbuktu it's like forever away right this is like a long way away and and paul is devastated he's so upset he's so mad he actually has a dream where at least he says he has a dream that jesus visited him and told him to forget the people that they weren't worth his time basically that's my paraphrase but but paul is so upset he's having dreams about how god doesn't even want anything to do with those people he's hurt you can see it paul is devastated paul is so rejected that he starts to make tense again and he quits the ministry and for months and months and months he's stewing he's he's discouraged he wants nothing to do with anybody no one's calling paul no one's reaching out to paul he writes no letters in this time he preaches no sermons in this time there are no miracles going on paul is devastated and he's devastated because people told him hey paul something that's very important that you get about life is the whole should never have to suffer for the few and every now and then we all need to be reminded hey the world is bigger than you the world's bigger than your opinion because sometimes you can start causing so many problems that you're actually a problem to the whole and if you don't have somebody to tell you that can i help you out when somebody does tell you that it hurts it really hurts when somebody says man you're causing a lot of problems listen we can leave the 99 and go for the one that's hurt but when you become the one that's hurting the 99 the question becomes are you really who you say and the way you know who a person is is when somebody calls them out do they have the heart to please god or do they have the heart to keep hurting people and paul has to face that he has to face somebody coming in and saying paul what's best for the church is that you go down the road think about that and he is so upset i'm not talking about that people should be kicked out of church i don't know sometimes it probably should happen you know because people are just so messed up and they just cause so many problems it's like we'd all at least prayed away if not asked to go away come on can i be truthful for just a minute now some of you don't like that and can i tell you can i just say real quick don't read the bible because the bible has some really harsh things to say about that stuff just keep living in your fairy tale land okay but in real life sometimes what's best for the whole is for the one to be confronted and leveled out and can i tell you there have been a lot of times in this church where my board that's here have leveled me out level me out i mean i'm like like leveled me out and i'm so thankful for it because when i learn what's best for me is to realize it's what's best for the church should always be prioritized not what not my little thing if that means i have to be leveled out level me out i need to have those kind of people in my life you need people in your life that will level you out some of your biggest problems are the fact that you don't have anybody that can tell you like it is and you listen you don't have anybody that can know you k-n-o-w and can know you in oh you know no don't think that way no don't make that decision no don't act that way no that's a terrible relationship no no calling you to something greater calling you to something higher and some people are afraid to tell us what we need to know so we need someone that will level us out number five and we're out number five and we're out this one is way better than that one i'm gonna end on a good note we need someone that will look us up acts 11 26 barnabas when paul is in this place where he's rejected and he's hurt barnabas goes and he searches for paul until he finds him he goes and he searches for paul no cell phone he has to go door to door city to city looking for paul have you seen the sky he's short he's bald he's got poor eyesight so we're guessing really thick glasses he uh he has a squeaky voice that's what the bible says like that's the if you read the description of paul he talked like this so barnabas is trying to find him he's saying have you seen this guy and finally they're like ah he's making tents so paul our barnabas goes and finds him and he says hey man what are you doing and immediately paul starts to argue with him because he's so hurt he's so rejected and barnabas says come on paul man you have to get over that it happens but the dream that god gave you that dream to the gentiles that call that god put on your heart to go reach these unreached people that dream is still very real and isn't going to happen without you and you have to drop those hurts and you have to drop all that stuff and i'm here to tell you that even though you want to quit even though you want to give up even though you want to throw in the towel even though you want to obsess over what they did wrong to you even though that's what you want to do i'm here to tell you i looked you up to tell you that's never going to happen as long as i'm in your life as long as i'm in your life i'm going to tell you you can't quit you can't give up not like this not here not now god is not done with you god's not finished with you i know it hurts i know it's horrific i know it's painful but god's not done he's got greater things for you and the high call of friendship is that we need to be people that will look somebody up look somebody up search them out find them they've thrown in the towel they've given up they're obsessing over a mistake that they've made a rough season they've gone through something that someone else did to them and now that's defined their whole life but god wants to send people heck maybe maybe that's what i am today to you maybe god sent me here today to look you up and say listen don't let that season that one thing define the rest of your life let us today let us as a church be that ananias let us be the one that lifts you up lets you out lets you in levels you out that's part of discipleship come on every now and then no amen's there that's fine but searches you out searches you out i'm calling this church over the next month to keep being the kind of people that are looking people up looking people up searching people out you know i think about the bible says that abraham was a friend of god abraham was a friend of god god and abraham were so close think about this this is crazy to me that god would check with abraham before he would do something god would go to abraham and say hey i'm thinking about destroying this city over here and abraham be like ah a little harsh god can we rethink that a little bit and abraham would negotiate with god as a friend i think the reason abraham was such a friend of god is because god knew abraham loved people i think i think god knew he would find an abraham the kind of person that would say whoa whoa whoa whoa maybe there's a better way and i think the reason god loved abraham is because abraham loved people people that weren't the way they needed to be we're messed up and i'm calling this church over this easter season you know they say that over 90 percent of people during the easter season they would come to church if someone they knew really important phrase there someone they knew would invite them it's crazy to think about that the people are waiting for someone they know to invite them to church that's just mind-boggling and there's certain times a year every year god has it on the calendar i think it's god where he's like that's the time of year i'm gonna have people's hearts especially open for someone they know to search them out and to look them up someone that's a friend of god is going to be talking to god about them and then look them up it's a high call of friendship guy at the poll best say that 38 years he sits there and jesus comes he's like why are you here he's like because i had nobody to lift me up think about that 38 years never one person lifted him up the high call of friendship let's be lifters let's let people out you wonder why i know most of us struggle to even think about inviting somebody think about struggle to even think about searching someone out because we're not free ourselves and when you're not free yourself you can hardly see very far i mean it's literally like you're in such a fog you're in such a storm you don't even know it it's in so internal you you can barely see enough in front of you to take the next step for yourself but god wants you to be free you

Channel: 7 Hills Church

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Length: 35min 4sec (2104 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 04 2018