WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.540 So we're going to start in 1 Samuel, chapter 20, verse 1. 00:00:05.660 --> 00:00:10.710 It says: Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, "What have I done? 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:12.000 What is my crime? 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.340 How have I wronged your father that he's trying to kill me?" Jonathan replied, "Never. 00:00:16.740 --> 00:00:17.620 You're not going to die. 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.620 Look, my father doesn't do anything, great or small, without letting me know. 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:23.940 Why would he hide this from me? 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:31.000 It isn't so." But David took an oath and said, "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he said 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:38.180 to himself, 'Jonathan must not know this, or he will be grieved.' Yet, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there's 00:00:38.180 --> 00:00:45.260 only a step between me and death." Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do for you." So David said, 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:53.060 "Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.840 of the day after tomorrow. 00:00:55.620 --> 00:01:02.780 If your father misses me at all, tell him, 'David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because 00:01:02.780 --> 00:01:09.060 an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.' If he says, 'Very well,' then your servant is safe. 00:01:09.740 --> 00:01:13.120 But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:19.840 As for you, please show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:22.000 If I am guilty, then kill me yourself. 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:25.040 Why hand me over to your father?" Jonathan said. 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:25.700 "Never. 00:01:26.380 --> 00:01:33.480 If I had even the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you?" So David asked, "Who will tell me if 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:40.360 your father answers you harshly?" "Come," said Jonathan, "let's go out into the field." So they went there together. 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:47.980 And Jonathan said to David, "I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:48.530 tomorrow. 00:01:49.100 --> 00:01:56.280 If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know?" And Jonathan and David reaffirmed 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.230 this oath out of his love for him because he loved him as he loved himself. 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:03.480 Amen. 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:04.760 Church, let's pray together. 00:02:04.800 --> 00:02:05.520 Thank you, Tawny. 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:07.560 Let's pray. 00:02:07.720 --> 00:02:14.820 God, we thank you for your Word and the power that it has to transform our lives, and God that you communicate to 00:02:14.820 --> 00:02:21.060 us with a desire Lord, for us to know you and to let your word transform our lives. 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:28.460 And so Jesus, we just pray that you'd be with us this morning as we read your Word and we study together, and we ask it all in Christ's name. 00:02:30.040 --> 00:02:30.920 Amen. 00:02:31.660 --> 00:02:35.780 This morning, we're going to look at a pretty powerful passage of Scripture. 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:42.820 In fact, if I were to just kind of give you a way to think about this in a block, 1 Samuel chapter 18 to 00:02:42.820 --> 00:02:49.900 about chapter 23 is a very powerful section of Scripture because this section of Scripture becomes a tool 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:56.960 that the Lord uses in the life of David to encourage him through some 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.020 of the most difficult times that he will go through, especially at a young age. 00:03:02.540 --> 00:03:09.700 You can imagine if you're King David having just read 1 Samuel chapter 20, he's not a king yet, but he's been anointed to 00:03:09.700 --> 00:03:16.740 become king, and Saul hates David to the point that he wants to kill David and Saul is the current 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:17.680 king in Israel. 00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:25.620 And when the king is against you can imagine being young David at this point, that it probably or likely feels like the 00:03:25.660 --> 00:03:27.220 majority of the kingdom is against him. 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:35.820 And with that kind of pressure in his life at a young age, God does something in the life of David to 00:03:35.820 --> 00:03:37.360 encourage him through that season. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:46.040 And it starts in chapter 18, which we looked at last week and it concludes in chapter 23, which we'll look at in just a 00:03:46.040 --> 00:03:46.500 moment. 00:03:47.160 --> 00:03:54.400 But what God does is he brings into David's life deep friendship, and 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:59.740 through friendship, the Lord uses this as a tool to strengthen David. 00:04:00.220 --> 00:04:01.980 And his friend is Jonathan. 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:10.920 In fact, when you read this section of Scripture, many people highlight this section of Scripture as some of the most beautiful passages of friendship 00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:12.440 in all of the Bible. 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:20.220 If I gave you a little bit of a timeline to think about this passage, David was born in about 1040 BC. 00:04:20.880 --> 00:04:25.980 We read recently chapter 17 of 1 Samuel, which is David and the battle of David and Goliath. 00:04:27.020 --> 00:04:32.300 When David defeats Goliath, most historians estimate he's between about 15, 16 years old. 00:04:32.820 --> 00:04:35.200 So this happens about 1025 BC. 00:04:35.940 --> 00:04:43.220 When you get to chapter 18, we looked at last week, most of historians believe this is about 10 years fast forward between chapter 17 and 00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:44.060 chapter 18. 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:46.960 Chapter 18 starts in a very powerful way. 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:54.610 When we saw last week, first four verses, this is the point of Scripture where Jonathan takes off his royal robe and his armor, 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:56.110 and he hands it over to David. 00:04:56.420 --> 00:05:03.480 And it's sort of this picture of submission of saying, "Look, I see God working in your life with this anointing to make you king." And 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:08.100 so David takes off his rightful position to become future king as Saul... 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:15.360 or excuse me, Jonathan takes off his armor to show his relinquishing of his position as future king, as Saul's son. 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:18.800 And he hands it over to David, which isn't an easy thing to do. 00:05:18.820 --> 00:05:24.560 If someone told you that you're next in line to become a king, how many of us will be jumping in line to say, "You know what? 00:05:25.020 --> 00:05:26.360 This guy might be better for the job. 00:05:26.380 --> 00:05:28.200 Let me just hand over everything I've got and let him have it"? 00:05:29.440 --> 00:05:36.500 But that's what you find in 1 Samuel, chapter 18 is Jonathan, when David's about 25 years old, 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:44.160 takes this position before David and just wants to honor the way God is moving in Israel, and this friendship is kindled 00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:44.940 between them. 00:05:45.460 --> 00:05:49.780 And when we get to chapter 20, which is where we just read, it's about 1013 BC. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:57.500 And you see this friendship continuing to develop between David and Jonathan from about chapter 21 00:05:57.500 --> 00:06:03.060 for of 1 Samuel to the end of the 1 Samuel, is one year that transpires. 00:06:03.880 --> 00:06:08.580 And when you get to the chapter 20, let me just read a couple of these verses towards the end of this chapter. 00:06:08.640 --> 00:06:14.000 I know Tawny read for us at the beginning of this story, where David's concerned for his life and talking to Jonathan about it. 00:06:14.400 --> 00:06:18.450 They set up this plan where David's going to go set in this field and hide. 00:06:18.880 --> 00:06:23.570 And Jonathan is going to go to this banquet and hang out with his father to find out where his father's heart really is towards David. 00:06:24.260 --> 00:06:30.760 And if his father's heart's favorable, he's going to come tell David, and if his father's hearts against David he's going to come tell David, "Look, you need to run. 00:06:30.760 --> 00:06:31.260 You need to hide. 00:06:31.260 --> 00:06:38.360 My dad's going to kill you." And when you get to the end of this chapter, you see Jonathan goes out to this field with what the NASB, which I'm 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:41.800 going to read from, the New American Standard, they refer to as this lad. 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:46.080 This lad goes with Jonathan and he's chasing Jonathan's arrows around. 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:51.920 Jonathan's shooting some arrows, according to a plan he's got with David, and this lad's going after these arrows. 00:06:52.320 --> 00:06:57.600 And finally they tell the lad to go away, or Jonathan tells the lad to go away so that he can talk to David. 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:03.780 And David comes out of hiding and they have this conversation in about 1013 BC. 00:07:03.780 --> 00:07:06.980 But in verse 40, look with me here at this statement. 00:07:07.820 --> 00:07:11.020 It shows this friendship that's developed between David and Jonathan. 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:18.820 Then David gave his weapons to his lad and said, "Go, bring them to the city." When the lad was gone, David rose from the south 00:07:18.820 --> 00:07:22.740 side and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. 00:07:23.900 --> 00:07:27.840 And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the more. 00:07:28.940 --> 00:07:36.120 Jonathan said to David, "Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will be between me 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:42.360 and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.'" Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city. 00:07:43.960 --> 00:07:48.220 So you see this place of two friends, not together. 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:52.870 And really, David's at a low point, shows us, he's just falling prostrate on the ground. 00:07:53.320 --> 00:07:54.870 He's weeping with his friend. 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:56.270 It's this time of close intimacy. 00:07:56.860 --> 00:08:04.000 And his concerns are true that Saul wants to kill David, and Jonathan is aware of it. 00:08:04.380 --> 00:08:05.980 And so they continue their friendship. 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:11.240 And by the time you get to 1 Samuel chapter 23, David at this point starts to run for his life. 00:08:12.080 --> 00:08:13.880 And he's hiding from Saul. 00:08:14.400 --> 00:08:21.480 And by the time you get to chapter 23, this is the final year that's remaining 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:26.160 before Jonathan and Saul die in battle. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:31.200 And David will assume his position as king in Israel, or at least the southern tribes. 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:34.380 It'll be seven years later before he unites all of Israel as king. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.380 But this starts to lay into the final year of everything that happens between David and Saul and the kingdom in Israel. 00:08:42.200 --> 00:08:49.360 And in 1 Samuel chapter 23, this is the last time that David spends 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:51.830 with Jonathan before Jonathan dies. 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:58.100 And when you say something like that, I mean, you don't really need to add much more to a text. 00:08:58.280 --> 00:09:05.400 If you just know, if you see this interaction between them, how Jonathan chapter 18 lays down his position as the next in 00:09:05.400 --> 00:09:07.010 line as king to David. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.820 And in chapter 20, they're weeping together in this field. 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:18.120 When you get to chapter 23, and we talk about the last time these two spend together, I mean, it already perks your attention just to want to see 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:21.540 that interaction between such genuine friends. 00:09:22.540 --> 00:09:29.980 In verse 15, it says: "Now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:37.080 David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh, and Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David at Horesh and encouraged him 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:37.520 in God. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:45.160 And thus he said to him, "Do not be afraid because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I'll be 00:09:45.160 --> 00:09:45.800 next to you. 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:53.340 And Saul my father knows that also." So that the two of them made a covenant before the Lord, and David stayed 00:09:53.340 --> 00:09:58.430 at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.920 And then shortly after this meeting, David... 00:10:01.920 --> 00:10:07.580 and Jonathan, excuse me, and Saul will go into battle and Saul and Jonathan will both die. 00:10:09.700 --> 00:10:16.940 And when you think about friendship, I'm going to be honest and say, I don't feel real masculine on Sunday just 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:18.270 talking about friendship. 00:10:18.780 --> 00:10:25.820 When I think about things that are important to talk about the Body of Christ, this doesn't want me to put on 00:10:25.820 --> 00:10:29.220 my battle armor and go fight for Jesus in this world of darkness, right? 00:10:29.220 --> 00:10:36.260 Like, "Let's talk about friendship." But let me just say this, for my sake, if not for yours, when I 00:10:36.260 --> 00:10:40.160 bring up a fluffy word like friendship, why is this a big deal? 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.240 I want to talk about why friendship's important. 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:49.700 I want to look at some important aspects to friendship from these texts that we learned from Jonathan and David, just a beautiful section of Scripture 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:50.520 on friendship. 00:10:50.900 --> 00:10:53.320 And then I'm going in the end, just end with why this matters. 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:56.870 Like, why should you even care after we talk about all these wonderful things with friendship? 00:10:57.600 --> 00:10:58.880 And let me just say it like this. 00:10:59.640 --> 00:11:06.660 When we say why friendship matters, when we do a message like that, let me just start by giving a heavy 00:11:06.660 --> 00:11:11.060 statement or a hard-hitting statement, and say it is impossible to follow Jesus without friendship. 00:11:11.680 --> 00:11:12.320 That's why it matters. 00:11:13.540 --> 00:11:17.440 It is impossible to be the Christian that God calls you to be without friendship. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:25.740 I mean, you think from the very beginning of the Garden of Eden, God did not conclude his creation in the garden of Eden until he created 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:26.260 friendship. 00:11:27.400 --> 00:11:30.540 And he created more than that in the most intimate of friendships. 00:11:30.540 --> 00:11:36.680 But in Genesis chapter two, verse 18, he says it's not good to be alone, or it's not good for man to be alone, and he created woman. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.130 And in that, you find the most intimate of friendships. 00:11:41.280 --> 00:11:42.720 God made us for relationships. 00:11:43.680 --> 00:11:45.580 Those relationships flourish in friendship. 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:49.210 Jesus tells us the greatest two commands are to love God and love others. 00:11:49.280 --> 00:11:51.520 Mark chapter 12, verses 30 to 31. 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:56.420 The fruit of the spirit, the way that the of God works in your life is through relationship. 00:11:56.620 --> 00:12:02.140 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, all those are words intended to be displayed in relationship. 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:05.460 Jesus calls you to reach people, to make disciples. 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:09.360 You don't do that without developing relationship. 00:12:10.340 --> 00:12:13.220 Friendship is important in Scripture. 00:12:13.280 --> 00:12:18.500 That's why I say, as a church, I know some people pretend like, "I'm not a part of a community. 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:23.300 I like to worship my God on my own at home." And to that, I just simply say this, guys, that's garbage. 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:26.640 God calls us to be in community. 00:12:26.680 --> 00:12:29.980 You cannot be who Jesus wants you to be without community. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:34.340 Now look, we all know church is not perfect because it's made up of people and people aren't perfect. 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:41.540 But this is what Jesus says to us, that the church is his bride, his bride, and Jesus knows the church isn't perfect. 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:45.320 That's why Jesus came and Jesus died for his people. 00:12:45.660 --> 00:12:47.250 It is his community. 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:49.760 It was worth him giving his life for. 00:12:49.760 --> 00:12:55.920 And so to just diminish the significance of that, I mean, Jesus calls the church to storm down the gates of hell. 00:12:56.140 --> 00:12:58.480 God created the church for a purpose. 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:02.480 Fellowship is important in the church, and fellowship happens in friendship. 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:07.040 You can't downplay that as a group of people pursuing Jesus. 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:08.920 It is significant to the Christian life. 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:12.480 So when I say the word friendship, in the beginning, I know it sounds like a fluffy thing. 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:20.080 But when you think about it is central to the identity of God's people and fulfills a purpose, which God calls us to in 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.030 this world. 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:27.980 We are intended to interact with people, to love on people, to care for people, to see a difference made in the lives of people. 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:35.360 We are people's holy spirit, but there is no way we can proclaim the message of Jesus in this world, without at least having some sort of acquaintance 00:13:35.680 --> 00:13:36.880 with people around us. 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.380 Now, no doubt, not every relationship is healthy. 00:13:40.400 --> 00:13:43.600 And I'm not saying you need to be best friends with everybody in this world. 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:50.960 In fact, passages in Proverbs chapter 18 verse 24 says this, "A man of too many friends comes to ruin." You 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:52.000 can't be a friend with everybody. 00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:54.870 No one would ask you to be a friend with everybody. 00:13:55.660 --> 00:13:56.340 That is an impossibility. 00:13:56.900 --> 00:14:00.860 I mean, we say here at the church, it is impossible to be friends with everybody in our church. 00:14:01.160 --> 00:14:08.320 And so what we attempt to do as a church in order to create a platform for healthy living as a community in Christ, is to provide a place for us to meet 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.800 together and develop deeper friendships. 00:14:10.800 --> 00:14:11.920 We call those connection groups. 00:14:12.100 --> 00:14:14.720 You can join one, if you would like to do that. 00:14:15.140 --> 00:14:22.680 But look, we're fooling each other if we think what God calls us to as a spiritual community is to show up on Sunday and get our information and check 00:14:22.680 --> 00:14:25.560 off our mark in the boxes if we did something for the Lord. 00:14:25.880 --> 00:14:32.900 Jesus, doesn't call us to simply show up to church on Sunday and me disseminate information, and now we're become spiritual, right? 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:39.320 We see our spirituality lives in how we manifest the fruit of the spirit in our relationships. 00:14:39.780 --> 00:14:46.820 A good way to determine whether or not you're walking with Jesus is to get with people and see if the goodness of Jesus is made known in your life, or 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:48.300 if the flesh comes out. 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:56.440 I mean, I know in the beginning days of coronavirus, being in solitary confinement with each other, you find real quick in a house 00:14:56.440 --> 00:15:01.210 24 hours a day, seven days a week, just how gracious and peaceful and loving you might be. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:06.040 It's a good indicator in our lives to see, "Okay, how much am I surrendering to the spirit of God in my relationships? 00:15:07.020 --> 00:15:14.320 How much do I need to depend more on Jesus in the way that I display his goodness and the lives with people around us?" So I'm 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:18.060 not saying, "Look, you have to be best friends with everybody." That is an impossibility. 00:15:18.340 --> 00:15:23.010 Some friendships are toxic and they're better off with stronger boundaries than other friendships. 00:15:23.780 --> 00:15:29.280 Galatians chapter six, in verse two says this: Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. 00:15:29.920 --> 00:15:34.260 And there's a great book that highlights really what that verse is about. 00:15:34.260 --> 00:15:35.420 It's written by Henry Cloud. 00:15:35.540 --> 00:15:36.030 It's called Boundaries. 00:15:37.020 --> 00:15:39.020 He talks abut having healthy boundaries in your life. 00:15:39.060 --> 00:15:43.060 If you struggle with understanding where healthy boundaries are, I would encourage you to pick up that book. 00:15:43.060 --> 00:15:45.340 They have that book and all sorts of age groups now. 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:48.500 I think they have Healthy Boundaries for Kids, Healthy Boundaries for Teens, healthy boundaries for... 00:15:49.140 --> 00:15:49.900 I don't know, you name it. 00:15:50.260 --> 00:15:53.100 But the original book was just called Boundaries by Henry Cloud. 00:15:53.760 --> 00:16:00.330 And the premise of this book basically says this, "Look, in life, all of us have a backpack to carry of responsibility. 00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:03.460 And sometimes in life you have boulders. 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:11.840 And if you carry someone else's backpack, you enable them to really start building a destructive life." 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.520 We all need to learn to carry our own backpack. 00:16:13.940 --> 00:16:18.850 We don't want to enable people to do things they shouldn't, but we want to encourage them to do the things God calls them to do. 00:16:19.180 --> 00:16:20.740 But sometimes the life you have boulders. 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:26.220 Unless you have friends come around you and help you carry that boulder together, the weight of that Boulder will crush you. 00:16:27.540 --> 00:16:29.530 In Galatians chapter six, that's what it's saying. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:35.020 If any other reason, you build healthy community in your life here, here's one good reason. 00:16:36.280 --> 00:16:37.800 One day you will need friends. 00:16:39.500 --> 00:16:40.400 Maybe not right now. 00:16:40.400 --> 00:16:42.360 Maybe you feel like in a cave, you're just fine. 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:43.920 Maybe this pandemic has been your dream. 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:46.340 I don't know, or whatever label you want to put on COVID-19. 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:47.380 Maybe it's been your dream. 00:16:47.680 --> 00:16:50.880 You don't have to associate with anybody if you don't want to, and you can just hide. 00:16:51.180 --> 00:16:52.720 But one day you're going to need somebody. 00:16:53.800 --> 00:16:56.500 And if you wait until that day, there will be no one around to help you. 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:05.339 But if you invest in friendship, you get to honor God in the way that you help others. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:10.359 God created people in his image, right? 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:18.599 And being made in his image, one of the great ways that we can worship the Lord is seen by how we treat one another. 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:19.990 And it starts in the church community. 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:22.800 How we love one another. 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.000 It is an act of worship before the Lord, image bearers of Him. 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:33.380 Even if people act nasty, even if their behavior is despicable, choosing to 00:17:33.380 --> 00:17:40.530 honor someone else being made in the image of God, regardless of what they do or don't do, is an act of worship before your King. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.440 Because everyone is made in the image of God. 00:17:44.560 --> 00:17:45.720 Doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone. 00:17:45.740 --> 00:17:46.880 You shouldn't agree with everyone. 00:17:47.100 --> 00:17:49.800 Sometimes agreeing with everyone's the most unloving thing that you can do. 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:53.160 But you do want to honor people. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:01.600 The way you love others, 1 John 4:20, is a direct communication of the way you love God. 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:03.360 So friendship is important, right? 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:06.380 I'm going to jump off that horse for a minute. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:16.820 When you look at this text of Scripture, then we can ask the question, "What are some key components of life-giving friendship?" I 00:18:16.900 --> 00:18:23.900 said to you, chapter 18 to chapter 23's some of the most beautiful passage of friendship communicated in this portion of 00:18:23.900 --> 00:18:24.020 Scripture. 00:18:24.800 --> 00:18:30.080 What are some key components that we find from the life of David and Jonathan, as it relates to friendship? 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:34.980 Because they have a friendship, maybe some people might even go through this entire life and not experienced. 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:40.300 What are some key components to enjoy that kind of friendship? 00:18:40.560 --> 00:18:47.600 Well, first thing that we see, and it's happened last week, I read this last week to us in chapter 18, we skipped 00:18:47.600 --> 00:18:49.000 over it in chapter 20. 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:53.740 I'll give you a verse reference in verse 16, and then chapter 23, verse 18 we read this. 00:18:54.440 --> 00:19:01.500 In chapter 18 verse three, chapter 20 verse 16, chapter 23, verse 18, Jonathan and David make something in one 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:01.880 another's presence. 00:19:02.260 --> 00:19:03.220 And the word that's used there is covenant. 00:19:04.620 --> 00:19:08.180 They make a covenant together to honor their relationship. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.900 Now, a covenant is a more of a biblical word than we're used to today. 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.200 We're used to contracts more than covenant. 00:19:14.280 --> 00:19:17.180 So what's the difference between contract and covenant? 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:17.720 Well, let me just tell you. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:24.310 You have some friendships that are more contractual friendships, and I hope you have some friendships that are more covenant friendships. 00:19:24.540 --> 00:19:28.160 And if I described to you what those means, contractual relationships are like this. 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:29.920 I will care about you. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:31.180 As long as you give me what I want. 00:19:31.590 --> 00:19:38.600 But the moment you don't give me what I want or what we've contracted to have from one another, or the moment I can stop using you for what I want to gain 00:19:38.600 --> 00:19:41.280 from you, that moment, we're no longer friends. 00:19:41.600 --> 00:19:42.330 So there's contracts. 00:19:42.420 --> 00:19:45.300 You set up contracts for people to come and do work on your home. 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:52.590 You pay them a certain amount and they come and do this work, and you're obligated to fulfill your contract as long as they fulfilled their contract. 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:53.060 That's contract. 00:19:53.800 --> 00:19:55.720 Covenant is more like marital relationship. 00:19:57.360 --> 00:20:04.980 You make covenants when you're married, and a covenant gives this idea that I am committing myself 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:07.140 to your wellbeing. 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:13.190 My attitude is to do what I can to leverage all that God has given me to help you become all that God has called you to be. 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:18.280 Not based on contract, it's based on the individual who wants to sacrifice. 00:20:18.340 --> 00:20:20.080 Covenant, mutual agreement. 00:20:20.420 --> 00:20:27.880 Contract, one side just agreeing completely to help someone else, to serve someone else, to love someone else, just 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:30.920 as Jesus set up his new covenant for you. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:38.800 Jesus, while you were a sinner, having done nothing to show yourself as lovable before God, God chooses to love you 00:20:38.800 --> 00:20:41.300 anyway and give His life for you, covenant. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:50.020 And this is what we see with Jonathan and David giving them themselves for the benefit of one another. 00:20:50.060 --> 00:20:57.420 In fact, chapter 20, verse 17, the last verse, Tawney read to us said this, "Because he loved him, Jonathan loved him as 00:20:57.420 --> 00:21:01.160 he loved his own life." Covenant. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:10.940 Jonathan chapter 18, verse 3, gives his royal robe to David in 00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:15.720 honor of the Lord and an honor of David and the way that God wanted to move. 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:19.560 What we see here is commitment through covenant. 00:21:20.080 --> 00:21:23.960 And then we see commitment and that they spend meaningful time together. 00:21:25.420 --> 00:21:27.560 David and Jonathan spend time together. 00:21:28.340 --> 00:21:29.520 And not just any time. 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:35.060 Every time we're reading David going through difficult times, who is there with David? 00:21:36.180 --> 00:21:36.460 Jonathan. 00:21:37.660 --> 00:21:41.040 They're spending time together and they're spending meaningful time together. 00:21:41.040 --> 00:21:48.120 Proverbs 18, verse 24, "But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." I read a 00:21:48.120 --> 00:21:55.320 few studies on this week, just curious what I could find when it comes to spending time together, how long 00:21:55.320 --> 00:21:57.230 it might take to develop a friendship. 00:21:58.280 --> 00:21:59.510 There's a few studies out there. 00:22:00.320 --> 00:22:05.280 A lot of them are close to one study I'll highlight here that I'm going to read to you. 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:10.320 This comes out of Kansas University from a professor who did a study in 2018. 00:22:11.280 --> 00:22:15.080 It was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:17.560 You know, one of the top reads we all have in our restrooms, right? 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:21.340 The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:22.500 But they said this. 00:22:23.300 --> 00:22:30.520 "It takes between 40 to 60 hours to form a casual friendship, 80 to 100 hours 00:22:30.520 --> 00:22:37.600 to transitioning to just being friends, and more than 200 hours to become good friends or 00:22:37.600 --> 00:22:44.800 close friends." So you think in terms of friendships and how you have friendships and whether or not your friendships feel close or 00:22:44.800 --> 00:22:47.060 distant, just think about numbers like that. 00:22:47.520 --> 00:22:51.200 It requires an investment of time to develop this friendship. 00:22:51.220 --> 00:22:58.580 This is why we say here at a church, if you're new to this area, you've recently moved to Utah, statistics have said that it takes somewhere between two 00:22:58.580 --> 00:23:02.260 to three years in living in area before you really feel like you start to put your roots down. 00:23:02.620 --> 00:23:05.780 But a lot of that's contingent on how much you invest in relationship. 00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:13.790 It takes time to nurture relationship, and the longer you're with people, the deeper those friendships become as you interact with each other. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.060 And so stick with it, right? 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:16.700 Develop those friendships. 00:23:16.860 --> 00:23:21.270 Let Jesus bring that sweetness into those relationships as you get to know each other over time. 00:23:22.520 --> 00:23:24.490 Now, even Jesus taught us about relationship. 00:23:24.660 --> 00:23:33.000 In John 15, verse 13, as you think about commitment, he says this, "Greater love has no one than one laid down his life for his friends." That 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:40.360 passage of Scripture, if you read through that section of Scripture in the Gospels in John, chapter 13 to 17, it just breathes 00:23:40.360 --> 00:23:40.980 intimacy. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:48.120 As Jesus spent three years with his disciples on the last night there in the upper room together, Jesus gives that kind of statement about friendship, to the point 00:23:48.120 --> 00:23:50.620 you lay down your life for one another. 00:23:52.620 --> 00:23:59.840 Even Jonathan says to David in 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 42, he says, "Go in peace." Or 00:23:59.840 --> 00:24:02.940 the NASB says, "Go in safety." It's the same idea. 00:24:03.040 --> 00:24:10.080 This departure, Jonathan, when he's talking to David in chapter 20, verse 42 says, "Look, David, just go in peace from 00:24:10.080 --> 00:24:12.800 here." I mean, think about that circumstance. 00:24:14.780 --> 00:24:16.980 David's got a lot of reasons not to be at peace. 00:24:17.220 --> 00:24:18.180 Saul's trying to kill him. 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:21.060 He's got gone through some difficult days. 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:25.100 And yet Jonathan says to him, "Go in peace." Now, why would Jonathan say something like that? 00:24:26.740 --> 00:24:32.060 Well, I think David finds a lot of security in one, his relationship to the Lord. 00:24:33.060 --> 00:24:37.540 And then that relationship to the Lord just being blessed through his relationship and Jonathan. 00:24:41.560 --> 00:24:49.360 There's something about even in hard times, when you have people around you that love you and care about you, and 00:24:49.360 --> 00:24:52.940 the Lord above who cares for your soul, that you find peace. 00:24:55.560 --> 00:24:56.960 You find peace in the chaos. 00:24:57.020 --> 00:25:00.880 And that's what Jonathan says to his friend out of the commitment that they've got together. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:05.800 Number two, you see this transparency between David and Jonathan. 00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:09.420 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 41. 00:25:09.800 --> 00:25:16.860 When they're out in this field together and they finally, after the little lad leaves with the arrows, and David and 00:25:16.860 --> 00:25:21.800 Jonathan get together, it says David falls down three times prostate and they weep together. 00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:24.020 And then it says David wept the most. 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:28.390 When's the last time you cried with a friend? 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:31.760 Or maybe we should say, who was the last friend you cried with? 00:25:33.320 --> 00:25:41.360 I'm not promoting you need to just leave here and cry, but there's something about baring your soul to that degree that just brings 00:25:41.360 --> 00:25:42.770 people closer together. 00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:50.360 Because that's typically the place where you just sort of let down the facade and you want to share what's on your heart with someone else. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:56.020 And so you strip yourself down to the depth of who you are. 00:25:56.080 --> 00:25:58.440 You can just bear what's happening with you with someone else. 00:26:00.020 --> 00:26:03.640 And the reason you do that is because you really value the person beside you. 00:26:03.780 --> 00:26:11.480 You want to hear their advice, their counsel, their direction to you, even if it might not be the direction you're going in, because you've 00:26:11.580 --> 00:26:12.840 elevated them in your life. 00:26:12.860 --> 00:26:16.620 And so you're willing to have this place of vulnerability. 00:26:16.780 --> 00:26:19.230 And so with David and Jonathan, they've got this transparency. 00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:21.320 And I think the same is true for us in the Lord. 00:26:21.860 --> 00:26:25.480 And Psalm 34, verse 17, it says, "The righteous cry out and the Lord hears. 00:26:26.580 --> 00:26:33.620 The Lord is close to the broken-hearted." In a similar way, just 00:26:33.620 --> 00:26:40.620 as David or Jonathan said to David in 1 Samuel 20, when he says, "Go in peace." And 1 Samuel chapter 23, verse 00:26:40.620 --> 00:26:42.800 17, he says this to David. 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:44.340 He says, "Do not fear. 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:54.480 Do not fear." When Jonathan says this to David, it says in verse 15 and 16, 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:57.600 all the reasons really David might fear because Saul's trying to kill him. 00:26:57.960 --> 00:27:05.000 And when Jonathan sees David for the first time, the first words he says to David, which is the last time he's going to see David is, "Look, don't be 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:05.100 afraid. 00:27:07.020 --> 00:27:07.500 Don't be afraid. 00:27:07.540 --> 00:27:11.000 There might be other places in the world where you feel pressure, you feel stressed. 00:27:11.100 --> 00:27:16.480 But when you're in my presence, don't fear. 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:20.000 This is the place where you can just be yourself. 00:27:22.320 --> 00:27:30.080 And if you struggle, struggle with me, because the things that I care about are for your wellbeing." And 00:27:30.100 --> 00:27:31.400 this is what David says. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:33.320 I mean, that's the beauty of friendship, isn't it? 00:27:34.660 --> 00:27:35.670 You don't have to put on a facade. 00:27:37.260 --> 00:27:37.980 You don't have to be a pretender. 00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:47.340 You get to just bare where you're at and where your struggles are with the person that cares about that you. 00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:49.340 That's something I love about the Jesus community. 00:27:50.620 --> 00:27:57.800 When we come to Christ, the only way we come to Christ honestly is to be open with where we failed and sinned 00:27:57.800 --> 00:27:58.200 before God. 00:28:00.060 --> 00:28:01.300 We lay it all bare before Him. 00:28:01.360 --> 00:28:02.920 We're not here to impress people with who we are. 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:04.860 We want people to be impressed with who He is. 00:28:06.520 --> 00:28:06.950 I don't have to pretend. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.630 When I struggle, I struggle. 00:28:11.140 --> 00:28:12.740 And we all know we need Jesus. 00:28:12.780 --> 00:28:13.480 That's why we're here. 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:21.040 This isn't a place of religious superiority where we just try to puff one another up in our arrogance of religious living. 00:28:22.900 --> 00:28:24.160 That's not what God's community is about. 00:28:26.360 --> 00:28:33.480 God's community is about emptying ourselves before the Lord, because we all recognize from the moment we trust in Jesus to salvation to 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:39.240 the moment we see Him face to face and we're perfected that we're all in desperate need of Jesus' transformation in our lives and we need Him. 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:41.460 We need Him. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.840 That attitude is what also allows us to reach this world around us. 00:28:49.380 --> 00:28:55.730 In the brokenness of the world, even if we don't like what it does, we can still care about the people that are out there that may disagree with us. 00:28:56.320 --> 00:28:56.680 Why? 00:28:56.680 --> 00:28:59.200 Because we've been there too, and we know how much we need Jesus. 00:29:01.080 --> 00:29:08.420 And so I think, more than any other community, we should be able to find that here, this place of vulnerability and 00:29:08.420 --> 00:29:15.540 praying for one another and lifting one another up and not fighting to impress each other with who we are or where we are, but all 00:29:15.540 --> 00:29:16.720 recognizing we need Jesus. 00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:19.360 And the beauty is that humility builds intimacy. 00:29:22.060 --> 00:29:23.580 Humility builds that friendship. 00:29:24.620 --> 00:29:32.120 And third is this key component to life-giving friendship is unity or commonality. 00:29:33.760 --> 00:29:35.680 It's not to say we all need to have uniformity. 00:29:37.360 --> 00:29:40.480 We're not trying to propagate that at all. 00:29:41.020 --> 00:29:46.240 But in Christ, we have this unity together, a common vision, a common passion. 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:53.360 And what we find in 1 Samuel chapter 23, verse 17, David says this for the... 00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:56.480 or excuse me, Jonathan says this for the first time out loud. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:03.500 He says, listen, "Thus he said to him, do not be afraid because the hand of Saul, my father, will not find you and you will 00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:04.700 be king over Israel. 00:30:05.100 --> 00:30:06.600 And I will be next to you. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:12.900 And Saul my father knows that also." In chapter 18, that's where Jonathan laid down his robe before David. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:21.400 But in chapter 23, verse 17, this is the first time Jonathan verbally says, "No, you're going to be the next king and my dad knows it as well." And 00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:29.340 so the reason Jonathan is so supportive of David one, I think he cares about them, but two, he sees God's hand moving there and he just wants to support David 00:30:29.340 --> 00:30:31.400 to get to where God has called him to be. 00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:38.560 And so they have this commonality together where they're striving to see David to this position. 00:30:38.560 --> 00:30:43.680 And so Jonathan says this about King David, or future King David, verbally. 00:30:44.860 --> 00:30:48.200 And this is one of the things I love about Jesus's community as well. 00:30:48.840 --> 00:30:53.520 Where else will you get a group of people coming from so many different backgrounds, walking in unity together? 00:30:54.560 --> 00:31:01.880 When you think about Jesus' first century disciples, if you knew their occupations before Jesus 00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:09.020 called them, you would say, before Jesus is in the picture, these 12 people, there's a guy thinking about putting these guys in a room together, and you would look at them and be like, 00:31:09.180 --> 00:31:09.560 "Good luck. 00:31:10.040 --> 00:31:17.320 If they all make it out of that room alive, these people are probably going to kill each other." Peter was a zealot who opposed Roman 00:31:17.320 --> 00:31:20.680 rule, and Matthew was a tax collector for Rome. 00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:26.200 They would spit on those people when they would walk down the street, they hated tax collectors so much. 00:31:26.500 --> 00:31:28.820 And Peter was considered the Jew of the Jews. 00:31:29.320 --> 00:31:31.100 And Matthew was seen as going with the enemy. 00:31:32.320 --> 00:31:33.760 And Jesus was like, "You know what we should do. 00:31:35.080 --> 00:31:40.020 Let's make these guys hang out for three years." How were they able to do that? 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:43.220 They lived for a greater calling. 00:31:47.600 --> 00:31:48.880 Guys, that's us. 00:31:50.840 --> 00:31:53.360 There are all sorts of issues in this world that you can make important. 00:31:55.940 --> 00:32:01.660 But in the end, the one that we want to die for is the glory of God made known in this world. 00:32:03.960 --> 00:32:05.280 We want people to know Jesus. 00:32:07.300 --> 00:32:09.360 That's what unites us. 00:32:11.020 --> 00:32:18.640 And so in the life of Jonathan and David, you see this unity built over the essentials, which deepened 00:32:19.580 --> 00:32:24.280 their foundation together in order to live for the purpose for which God called them. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:33.140 So when you think about friendship, there's all kinds of things I could point through in this passage of Scripture as to what makes it important, but commitment, 00:32:33.140 --> 00:32:36.720 transparency, this unity or commonality are just some of those things. 00:32:37.060 --> 00:32:38.380 But here comes the big question. 00:32:39.780 --> 00:32:40.100 So what? 00:32:45.420 --> 00:32:45.680 Why should we care? 00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:53.900 Why does this matter to us, this premiere passage of friendship in Scripture? 00:32:56.260 --> 00:32:59.960 Well, let me draw it down to this for us, as it relates to Jesus. 00:33:01.460 --> 00:33:02.520 Two passages. 00:33:02.520 --> 00:33:09.540 If you have the notes this morning, there's two passages I ended with, Matthew 11, verse 19, and Luke chapter 00:33:09.540 --> 00:33:10.580 7, verse 34. 00:33:12.700 --> 00:33:15.640 And these two passages are by religious leaders. 00:33:15.820 --> 00:33:20.380 Jesus is quoting religious leaders that are remarking in criticism towards Jesus. 00:33:20.940 --> 00:33:28.060 And they give this statement about Jesus, his indictment against him, that Jesus is a friend 00:33:28.060 --> 00:33:29.740 of sinners. 00:33:31.580 --> 00:33:32.020 Did you get that? 00:33:32.220 --> 00:33:32.460 Friend. 00:33:34.100 --> 00:33:35.540 Jesus is a friend of sinners. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:41.340 He's criticized for being close and being real to those who are in need. 00:33:43.860 --> 00:33:51.060 Jesus is a friend of sinners like you and me, because Jesus knows how much 00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:52.120 we need him. 00:33:53.180 --> 00:33:58.470 And so His desire was to become flesh and die for us because of His great love. 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:02.090 Jesus is a friend of sinners. 00:34:03.880 --> 00:34:10.960 I read a book this week called Sticky Faith and Sticky Faith, you might be interested in this as parents, but 00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:15.350 Sticky Faith is a book written in concern over young people. 00:34:16.100 --> 00:34:21.780 And the concern was that when kids get to college age, over half of them leave their faith. 00:34:23.179 --> 00:34:30.139 Some of them come back a little later in life after they've made all the important decisions in life, like kids, career, marriage. 00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:34.100 But half of them leave the faith. 00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:37.000 And so the question in this book was, how do you make a young person's faith sticky? 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:43.920 What helps them to develop a genuineness in their own relationship with God? 00:34:44.620 --> 00:34:47.020 This is kind of a consensus of what it says. 00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:49.880 It says more than this, but this is one of the arguments that it made. 00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:54.260 It said there are a couple of ways that we can treat the Lord that's unhealthy. 00:34:55.699 --> 00:35:02.960 One is we can treat Him like this intellectual exercise where we come and we get this dissemination of information and pretend like all we need is to know things and 00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:03.960 we've got all that we need. 00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:10.880 The other is to treat God like this to-do list, where a life is all about do good, don't do bad. 00:35:11.200 --> 00:35:15.430 And so we make following God just this list of, are you doing the right things? 00:35:15.560 --> 00:35:16.630 Are you not doing the wrong things? 00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:18.680 Okay, then you've done everything that you need to do. 00:35:19.660 --> 00:35:20.700 That's a religious way of thinking. 00:35:21.040 --> 00:35:22.040 But this is what Sticky Faith said. 00:35:22.120 --> 00:35:29.420 They found that young people tend, by and large, to take their faith more 00:35:29.420 --> 00:35:29.770 serious. 00:35:30.140 --> 00:35:33.670 And I know young people still have to make up their minds in relationship to the Lord. 00:35:34.740 --> 00:35:42.120 But they found that young people tend to take their faith more serious when they're influenced by older people 00:35:42.120 --> 00:35:46.900 who display a friendship with Jesus. 00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:53.380 Jesus is more than just something that you know. 00:35:55.160 --> 00:36:02.180 Following Jesus is just more than something that you do, that your heart really yearns for friendship with 00:36:02.180 --> 00:36:02.440 Jesus. 00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:06.120 Jesus is real to you. 00:36:09.260 --> 00:36:11.080 That's what makes today so special, right? 00:36:14.220 --> 00:36:15.900 Jesus is real to us. 00:36:17.510 --> 00:36:19.120 That Jesus is God. 00:36:21.160 --> 00:36:22.940 That Jesus really did take on flesh. 00:36:24.240 --> 00:36:26.460 That Jesus really did die for you. 00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:34.120 And Jesus really wants to give you life in His presence forever if you would just come to him for the forgiveness of 00:36:34.140 --> 00:36:38.060 your sins, to be transformed by the grace that He offers through the cross. 00:36:39.940 --> 00:36:46.300 Jesus wants to walk with you every day, and Jesus wants you to know Him and to be known by Him. 00:36:52.460 --> 00:36:59.720 Parents, I think sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit for the influence that you have in your children, not by just 00:37:00.540 --> 00:37:05.920 hovering over them all the time, but just simply displaying a love for Jesus in your own life. 00:37:07.720 --> 00:37:08.820 Jesus is real to you. 00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:16.000 And it doesn't just have to be parents, because one of the things I love about living in our state is that it is one of the youngest 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:18.580 states in all of our country. 00:37:19.800 --> 00:37:22.540 And if you want to influence a country, you influence the young people. 00:37:24.160 --> 00:37:31.320 And if you want to influence the young people, live in light of your love for Jesus as your friend. 00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:39.660 Look, if you're here this morning and you're saying, "Jesus has been that exercise to me and following Jesus has felt more like religion than 00:37:39.660 --> 00:37:46.720 relationship," can I just encourage you, can I just encouraged you to consider 00:37:46.720 --> 00:37:52.920 how much Jesus has already displayed the things that we talked about in the goodness of friendship modeled through Jonathan? 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:56.680 That He's offered that covenant for us? 00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:00.840 That he's laid Himself completely out for you? 00:38:02.540 --> 00:38:09.580 That He's committed to you, and he builds this unity and relationship with us and Him as we give our lives back to the 00:38:09.580 --> 00:38:09.780 Lord? 00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:17.960 God doesn't want you to dress yourself up, to make yourself look perfect, to have to make yourself lovable before He embraces you. 00:38:18.700 --> 00:38:20.480 God already died for you and your sin. 00:38:20.540 --> 00:38:21.650 That's how much He loves you. 00:38:22.500 --> 00:38:24.660 And He also loves you so much He doesn't want to leave you there. 00:38:24.740 --> 00:38:31.040 He wants to transform your life if you would surrender yourself and walk with Him. 00:38:31.140 --> 00:38:34.780 Guys, the same thing's true for us every day. 00:38:34.840 --> 00:38:39.120 Our relationship with Jesus starts here, but it also continues in that way. 00:38:40.640 --> 00:38:46.500 We go through places in our lives where we take our relationship with God more serious at certain points than others. 00:38:47.160 --> 00:38:54.860 But when we think about how that relationship transpires from more than just beyond me into the lives of other people, how 00:38:54.860 --> 00:39:01.500 important it is to just allow that friendship to continue to develop and recommit ourselves to the Lord every day.