War Buddies | Week 4

Maybe this helps a little bit.

We we've got different types of friends, and I know friends are weird right now because social media and all that stuff. So let let's break it down. So when I say friends, you actually know who we're talking about. You you've got like a Facebook group of friends. Right? That's a huge group of people, and you don't have any idea who any of them are. You just accepted a friends request because you didn't wanna be a jerk. So you just said accept, and you've got this huge number of people, and you don't know half of them. And those really aren't your friends. Those are Facebook people. And I know some of you are like, Tim. I know no. Don't. You don't know all of those people. That's why they're on Facebook, they're not at your house. And then you have a a little smaller tighter knit group of people. And and these are some friends maybe that you've known for a while. Like, maybe these are some high school buddies or some people that you hung out with a long time ago,

but you really haven't really kept up with them. But you're still friends. I mean, you still know each other a little bit.

These these would be the ones, if they showed up at your house, you would think about opening the door. Right? Like, you're like, I don't know. You you have that group of friends. Then if you go down a little bit smaller in the circle, you've got a group of friends that you hang out with. These are the guys that you talk to that you know a little bit about what's going on in their life. This is the crew that if it's Friday night, you don't have anything to do, you're gonna call them and be like, hey, let's go to a movie. This is that group of friends. You would you know their phone number. You know how to contact them. You you know kind of what's going on in their world. You probably send them a Christmas card.

You you know that group. You know in the Super Bowl sitting, you know which ones of those friends can cook so you know where to watch the game. You you know that that group. And then if you go down just a little bit tighter, you you've got a group of friends that you've known for a while, and this is the group that when man, when things get tough,

this is the group of friends that you call. When when it's when it's man, it's just like the end of the world and things are just really rough or you've had a really great something happen and you're celebrating something,

this is the group of friends that you reach out to, that you talk to. I mean, you know these guys. They're they're close. And then if you get even just a little bit tighter, and hopefully this is a really small number of people in your life,

you've got a group of friends around you that really aren't friends. They're more family. And

and you've given them permission to speak into your life. And and these are the guys that you've been with, man, they've been through the fire with you. They've most likely, it was born out of adversity or maybe just out of a really deep rooted friendship from a long time ago. But these guys walk with you and they speak into your life. I've been really blessed. Man, I've got six guys that I've known since the seventh grade and we still to this day hang out with each other. And we're scattered all over the place right now. But once a year we all get together and we try to do something, go play golf. Or a couple years ago we went to Dallas and went to Guns N' Roses. And it was we witnessed at this Guns N' Roses concert.

But I've we man, these are guys I've known forever, and they they pour into me. It's important because you don't want the wrong voices pouring into you. For instance,

a couple months ago, I really was having this idea of what if what if I gave up everything, man, just sold everything that I have and and, like, bought a turntable? And what if I just started traveling and I took eighties rap music and I twisted it into, a lounge singer? Because nobody's doing that right now.

This would be a great idea. Right? Like, I could travel the world. I'm gonna get, like, rich tons of tons of stuff. And I took some old stuff, like some I don't know. Like, some vanilla and just took a little stop, collaborate and listen. Nice is back with a brand new invention something.

Right? Like nobody's doing that. And I took this idea to some friends. Now we're talking outer circle group of friends. I I guarantee you, there's some people in my life who would look at that moment and they would say, Tim, that's genius. Dude, you should do this. That is a great idea.

Simply because it's a train wreck that they wanna see happen.

And to them, it's gonna be funny. Now I've got another group, that little tight group of friends that I mentioned. If I took this idea to them and I told them that, they would look at me, probably punch me in the mouth and be like, hey, don't ever sing again. That's a dumb idea. You've got kids. You got a family. Dude, that that's a horrible idea because they have my best interest at heart.

You see, it's really important who we give a voice Yes. In our life

because not everybody is speaking wisdom has our best interest. And today, as we man, as we break open God's word, I I want you to think about your friends and think about those circle of friendships and who you have and where they fit in those circles and who do you have speaking into your life. And this is probably the best characteristic of anybody I can think of as someone who should be allowed to speak into your life. A really, really good friend is someone who's gonna steer you away from temptation.

A good friend is somebody who's gonna pull you away from temptation, not push you towards it. Grab your Bibles. Let's go to first Samuel.

If you're new to the Bible, man, maybe new where it's at, open it up in the middle. You should hit a book called Psalms. Work your way back a little bit. You hit second Samuel. First Samuel's right before it. Who figured? First Samuel 25.

We're gonna walk through a story of this guy named David because David did a lot of things wrong, but he did a couple things right. And one of them was just some of his friends. And to set this up so you know where we're at in the story, we're at a part of David's life where he's a

little bit more of an adult. Several years back in David's life, he was a kid and a guy named Samuel went to him and anointed him with oil and said, David, at some point you are gonna be king over all of Israel. And this was weird because there was already a king in Israel. But Samuel went to David and said, hey, you're gonna be it, dude. You're gonna be the king. And David has to wait about twenty years from that moment till he actually gets to be king,

which had to be a horrible twenty years of his life. He had to sit there and watch and couldn't really lead yet, but he knew that that was gonna be his position. There's a guy named Saul who was king who wasn't at all excited about David being crowned king of Israel. So Saul spent all this time chasing David around the wilderness, all over caves, all over valleys, all over just horrible spots through Israel trying to kill him.

And through those travels, David wandered into a place, and that's kind of where the story picks up. And he's got about 600 guys with him, wanders into this area, and first Samuel 25 kicks in. So look look in verse two, and let's read through this. Unfortunately,

there there's a ton of text to this. We're gonna have to read a lot. So, man, stay with me, and I'll I'll try to do my soothing reading voice. I don't know what that is.

There was a verse two. There was a wealthy man from Moan who owned property near the town of Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and a thousand goats, and it was sheep shearing time.

This man's name was Nabal, and his wife Abigail was a sensible and beautiful woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was crude and mean in all his dealings. When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, he sent 10 of his young men to Carmel with this message for Nabal.

Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own. I am told that you I am told that it is sheep shearing time. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. Ask your own men, and they will tell you that's true.

So would you be so kind to us? Since we have come at the time of celebration, please share any provisions you might have on hand with us and with your friend David. David's young men

gave this message to Nabal in David's name, and then they waited for a reply. Let me help us for a minute because David sounds like a hobo who's just looking for a handout, and that's not at all what's happening. You see, David has spent the last several months, most likely, with his men, and they posted up around this guy named Nabal, who has a ton of sheep and a ton of goats. And they've guarded

that area because people would come through and steal, and marauders would come through and take stuff. And so David and his men have guarded not only the shepherds, but the sheep from people wanting to come in and steal, but also from lions,

from wolves, from different things that would come in and attack and kill the sheep. And they've done an incredible job with it. They've watched this and they've done just an amazing work saving this guy Nabal, probably just a ton of money.

Now custom would have it that whenever sheep shearing time would happen, so they've done a good enough job that the sheep are fat and they're all healthy and they've got tons of wool, they're gonna shear them down to sell it to make money. Custom would have it that you would feed the people who protected you.

And it would be totally acceptable. So what David is doing, he's not asking for a handout. He's just going in and saying, hey, dude, this is our custom. I got a a lot of guys here. We've worked our tails off for you and we protected, making sure everything is good. Could you hook a brother up? Man, spare a waffle. Throw me some food. Can you can you give me something to eat?

Can you feed my men? Now this is this is completely normal. And and custom would have it, and Nabal obviously is wealthy because of the number of sheep and the goats that he has. This isn't asking too much from him. He's already got food prepared.

It's not that big a deal. It's just, hey. Would you help feed my men? So it's not that David's looking for a handout. He's just asking Nabal, hey. Could you hook a brother up, man? Spare spare a little a little something something.

Look at what Nabal says to him. It's it's in verse 10. So David goes to Nabal and he asks, verse 10. Nabal says,

who is this fellow David? Nabal sneered to the young man. Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are a lot of servants these days who run away from their masters. Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I've slaughtered for my shears and give it to this man of outlaws who come from who knows where?

So David's young men returned and told him what Nabal had said.

So you feel the tension in the moment. Right? You you you get kind of what's happening. I don't know if you smell what's cooking yet, but David has just worked his tail off. He's just protected. He's walked up to step into a custom that really should be just not common sense.

And the ball's response to it is, are you serious? No. I ain't gonna feed you. Get out of here, dude. Get a job. What are you thinking? No. I'm not giving you any of my food. This is my food. These are my sheep. These are my workers. I'm gonna feed them. I got no time for you. Take off.

And there's a tense moment that's taking place because David's just been disrespected. Now we we gotta know this because this is important as to what's about to happen next.

Right before this moment, David probably has the second highest, like spiritual high moment of his life. Right before this moment, David has something happen that has to sit right next to Goliath.

Like it's one of the coolest moments that happens in his life spiritually. And it's so amazing. It's in the chapter right before this. David and his men are running from Saul who's still trying to kill him. Saul's got like 4,000 guys. He's chasing David around the desert and through the wilderness. David hides in this cave with his men and Saul camps outside the cave, but he doesn't know that David's inside the cave. And the Bible says that while Saul's camped out there, he's gotta go to the bathroom. So there's no porta potty. So he goes in the cave to go to the can, not knowing that David is hiding in there. And some of you are like, that's not in the Bible. Read your Bible. It's in there.

Saul goes in the cave to go to the bathroom. David's men are whispering to David in the back of the cave. They're like, dude, check it out. God's given you Saul. We don't have to run anymore. Kill him. He's never gonna be this vulnerable.

Dude, take him out and free us from this. We're we're finally set free. God's putting him in your hands. And David in that moment has this incredible

clarity where he hears God's voice and he does exactly what he's supposed to do for God. He looks at his men and he looks at Saul in that moment and he says, I'm not gonna put my hand on the anointed.

He says, I'm not gonna harm God's anointed king. God elected him king. God can remove him a king, but I'm not gonna be the one that does it. And in this moment of temptation,

David listens to God's voice so clear. And the story is so cool, man. He sneaks up behind Saul, which had to be gross. And he cuts up a little piece of his cape. And then when Saul leaves the cave to go out and join his men, David walks out of the cave and he's holding the piece of cape. And he's like, hey, Saul, I coulda killed you. Can you please leave me alone? And Saul has a moment where he's like, Dude, I'm sorry. And for a little while, there's some peace.

And then Nabalta takes place.

So David just went from this moment, man, where he just had this incredible spiritual high. He just had the greatest moment of his life. He just was tempted, and he he didn't fall. Man, he had a moment to do something really dumb, and instead, he did the direct opposite, and he showed his men how powerful of a leader he was. He showed his men how strong God was in his life, and he just had that moment.

And then this happens. And look at verse 10

because this gets this gets sketchy. Nabal dishonors David. He he throws out these curses to him. Verse 13, David's response. Get your swords, was David's reply as he's strapped on his own. Then 400 men started off with David, and 200 remained behind to guard their equipment. David just has this moment

where he just had this incredible spiritual high. Nabal dishonors him, and David's first response is strap up. Grab your nine. Hide your mama. Hide your kids because we're coming to town, dude. This isn't gonna float. How does that happen?

This conversation is so important to us today because I don't know if you're you're picking this up yet. If it could happen to David, you better believe it could happen to you. We

can have the greatest, most spiritual high moment where we're seeing God fully. We're doing everything that God's called us to do. And in the very next day, we can have a moment of temptation where we're about to step into something really dumb. And David, a man after God's own heart who was just dishonored,

his reply isn't, man, Nabal, thanks for that's alright. His his reply is, hey, guys, grab your nine. Strap up, dude. We're fitting to go to town. And it it's we're gonna kill some fools. Look in verse 13.

David says, strap up. 400 of his men go with David. 200 stay back. 14. Meanwhile, one of the Baal's servants went to Abigail and told her, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed insults at them. When these men have made,

when these men being very good to us, but we never suffered any harm from him, nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. In fact, day and night, they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep.

The men are seeing that David was wronged. David is seeing that David is wronged. I I don't know if you've had a moment where it's really easy to do the wrong thing and it feel like the right thing. It's really important to have people speaking into your lives in those moments

and to know the right voice to listen to because the right voice is gonna lead you away from temptation, not towards temptation. And that this this gets big because we meet man, we meet David's friend in this.

It's verse 18. Her her name's Abigail. Verse 18. Pick it up. Abigail wasted no time. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two wineskins full of wine, five sheep that had been slaughtered, near nearly a bushel of roasted grain, a 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes.

She packed them all on donkeys. It's like the first Uber Eats. And she said to her servants

I think out loud sometimes. I'm sorry. She said to her servants, go on ahead. I will follow you shortly. But she didn't tell her husband the ball was what she was doing. And she as she was riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David

and his men coming toward her. David had just been saying a lot of good it did to help with this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness and nothing he owned was lost or stolen, but he has repaid me evil for good. May God strike me and kill me

if even one man of his household is still alive by tomorrow morning. David is so ticked off. He's he's telling his men, man, if if one person in this village is alive by this time tomorrow, may God strike me dead.

How do you do that? You go from this incredible moment where you're hearing God's voice to now the next moment you're strapping your sword and saying, dude, if there's anybody alive by this time tomorrow, may God kill me because I'm killing everybody.

And Abigail steps in. And this is a huge part of the story because some of you guys are getting gonna be excited about what I'm about to say. There's moments where we speak into people's lives. How we do that is almost more important than what we say sometimes.

Did you catch that? Because some of us are really excited about grabbing the bullhorn and telling our friends they're going to hell. And and we're doing it in ways that they don't see Jesus in their life. And it's about us being right and and not pointing them to righteousness. And it's not about pulling them from temptation.

It's about showing them how dumb and how wrong they are and how we see it. And that doesn't fix things. Look at Abigail in this because she does such a good job. Starts in verse 23.

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before him. She fell at his feet and said, I accept all blame in this matter, my Lord. Please listen to what I have to say. I know Nabal is a wicked and ill tempered man. Please don't pay any attention to him. He is a fool just as his name suggests,

but I never even saw the young man you sent. Now, my lord, as surely as the lord lives and you yourself live, since the lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, let all your enemies and those who try to harm you be as cursed as Nabal is.

And here is the present that I, your servant, have brought to you and to your young men. Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way. The Lord will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty for you are fighting the Lord's battles.

And you have not done it wrong throughout your entire life. Even when they are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the Lord your God, secure in his treasure pouch. But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling.

When the Lord has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel, look at verse 31. Don't let this be a blemish on your record. Then your conscience won't have to bear the staggering burden of of needless bloodshed and vengeance.

And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember me, your servant. Abigail comes in in complete humility and starts speaking life towards David. And she doesn't do it as a self righteous, you're wrong. Please don't come in and kill everybody.

It's more of a don't let this be a blemish, man. Remember what God has done. I I got into youth ministry, like, twenty years ago. I I was working in science museums. I think I've told you all this. I I used to, like, breed snakes and insects for zoos and science museums all over West Texas.

Got into youth ministry right out of that, and I was at a small church, my very first church. And I walked in, and it was so amazing to me how dumb lead pastors are. Like, I just couldn't figure out how are they not smart? Like, I'm a genius. And how are they not at my level as a youth minister? Like, it just didn't make sense to me. It, like, boggled me. And and I was given this assignment due junior high and high school students where we were supposed to do some things to, you know, just to have fun with some of the students and to increase attendance,

tell them about Jesus. We had this really cool event, like, lined up, man. We were gonna it was around Halloween.

We were trying to like bob for apples. We were gonna see who could do the most, but we had to kick it up a notch because that's kinda lame. So we got a swimming pool, like a kiddie pool, and filled it full of apples. And we were gonna have a football team compete against the band and against cheerleaders and all that stuff. And they were gonna come in. It was gonna be really fun. But that was still kinda lame. Was like, ah, it's just apples in a swimming pool. And I was still working like in science museums. And so I spent about three weeks and I caught around 60 snakes.

And I thought, dude, this is genius right here. We're gonna dump 60 snakes in the swimming pool with apples and these kids are gonna bob for apples with snakes. This is awesome. And

it was the greatest event I've ever seen in my life, dude. We're talking two sixty pound linemen, like shoving their head in water, screaming like a girl. It was so funny.

So awesome. Our youth group exploded, man. We had so many kids starting to come to our church that we were the talk of the school, dude. The next day in school, everybody was like, you're that weird church, aren't you? And they came. Dude, our our youth ministry exploded. It got so big. Only three kids got bit, so it wasn't really that big of a deal. And

it wasn't poisonous snakes. It was like garter snakes and bull snakes and like it was like harmless. This mom got so mad at me, and I I didn't get it. Like, I was like,

what your son's like two hundred he's a two hundred sixty pound lineman. That's a little that's a two foot snake. He needs to toughen up. This is tough training. Like, this and and she so she went to my lead pastor. And so I I had a meeting coming up with my lead pastor.

And, dude, I was I was mad. Seriously, I was ticked off. I was going into this meeting thinking, are you serious? You're upset with me because I just grew our youth ministry almost double. I had the best idea ever. You're just ticked off. I thought of it, and you didn't. This is so much better than any of your boneheaded illustrations, what you're talking through. This is this is genius.

And I'm you're gonna and I dude, I was ready to just go in like guns blazing. Thank God I had a man named Jay Watson in my life. Jay was one of my youth workers. Jay thought it was a good idea to do the swimming pool with the apples. He just didn't know about the snakes.

And Jay caught me going in to see my lead pastor and sat me down and just started talking to me. And he started speaking life into me, and he pulled me from temptation. And because of Jay, I kept my job. I had the biggest honor of my life two years ago. I got to officiate Jay's funeral.

Jay was a firefighter and had been in gosh, he'd worked for I think thirty something years as a fireman. I got to fly back to Texas and I got to be a part of his funeral which is still one of the biggest honors I've ever had. He went from the grave site or from the church to the grave site. They called it the last ride where they put the coffin in one of the fire engines and they drove it through town. Full color guard with the guys with the kilts and the bagpipes and the drumline.

When we drove in they had the big ladder trucks with an enormous flag dripping down and we got to drive underneath that. And I got to speak at Jay's funeral. And our friendship was birthed because he met me at a really big need in my life. I met Jay at that church when my son was born and my son was really sick.

And we were driving back and forth to Dallas to do surgeries. And I got our second surgery, I got pneumonia in Dallas. And so I couldn't stay at the hospital. And Jay drove six and a half hours and picked me up. And drove six and a half hours back and dropped me off at the emergency room back in my hometown.

And we just got this really great friendship from it. And Jay stopped a moment in his life and he spoke wisdom into me. And he steered me from temptation. What's cool with that is I had a friend named Zach. Zach was the kid who thought this was a great idea. So I hired him as an intern.

That's what interns do. Right? They they support your boneheaded ideas. I hired Zach in a couple years later. We were sitting in the same church. We were doing an event. Zach was helping me with my junior high. We were gonna move some junior high students around like a mobile traveling like a traveling scavenger

hunt type thing. So I was getting them all vans and I'm talking to Zach. I'm like dude, hey Zach. I got you a van. He's like I don't need it. I got a Cadillac. I was like Zach you got 15 kids. I know it's a '68 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.

I was like Zach we got a van. No. I can fit 10 of them in the trunk and put five of them in the car. I'm like Zach that's a that's a horrible idea. It doesn't matter how many you can fit. It's should they fit? And Zach was really set. This was his big idea. And I got to speak a little bit of wisdom into Zach.

And I got to talk to him about, hey, I know you can do it, but should you do it? And I did what Jay did to me, to my friend Zach. Zach's the pastor at a church right outside of San Antonio right now that's just blowing up, man. It's making such a huge difference in that part of the world.

I don't wanna take credit for Zach being a pastor there, but I'm pretty sure he would've got arrested had he shoved 10 kids in the trunk of his car. And I think that may have made that journey just a little bit more difficult for him, but I got to be Jay in that moment to him. Who do you have that's speaking life into you?

Who do you have that you've given the permission to speak at those those hard moments that that's directing you in those moments, that's giving you wisdom? And you know it's wisdom because it's pulling you away from temptation, not towards it. And and some of you are sad right now because you're thinking through this and you're, like, trying to work through it and you're like, Tim, I don't have anybody. Like, I don't know anybody in my life.

I I don't I don't have friends. You're you're doing this on your own. And you you please hear me on this. Doing this by yourself will keep you in the shallow end of the pool for the rest of your life. There's a deeper, more fun end of the pool that's out there, but it happens when we experience community.

And you may have came here today saying, Tim, I don't have any friends, but let me just help you with something. That's why we do this.

That's why church exists. It's one of the reasons that this building is established and the people are sitting beside you. You may wanna think a little bit more, you know, where you're sitting next week. That this is why this happens is because these people are here to make those relationships. That's why we do small groups.

That's why you guys have these opportunities for community so that you can get together and you can pour into each other and you can lean on each other. So when life gets hard, you have someone to walk with you. And and you know who those friends are because they steer you away from temptation, not towards it.

And some of you aren't experiencing that because you're trying to do this on your own, and this was never meant to be done solo.

There's incredible opportunities here. Get into some of these small groups. Dude, go to this thing that Brandon was just talking about. Free pizza and childcare. Just go for that. Meet people. Find out who they are. Man, volunteer.

Believe it or not, they don't ask you to volunteer just because they don't wanna pay you. They ask you to volunteer because they want you plugged in to build those communities, to build to get beside someone and to do life with each other. Because when we do life in community

and people point us away from temptation, we experience what God has planned for. Man, we experience life. Look at David's response. It's bigger than what we see, and it's huge. It's in verse it's in verse 32. So Abigail just says, hey, don't let this be a blemish on your record. David replies in verse 32.

He says, David replied to Abigail, praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today. Thank God for your good sense. Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands for I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel who has kept me from hurting you, that if you had not hurried out to meet me, not one of Nabal's men would still be alive by tomorrow morning.

Then David accepted her present and told her, return home in peace. I've heard what you said. We will not kill your husband.

Abigail stepping up and pointing David from temptation and towards God not only saved David's life, but it also saved the life of every man in the village. Do you see that? That one moment of wisdom where she she guided David away from temptation, not only changed the trajectory of his life,

but the lives of every man in the village. You get that that one moment of wisdom when you speak into somebody's life. Jay speaking into my life and me not going into a pastor who is way more intelligent than me, who had done ministry way longer than me, had much more common sense obviously,

Saved me from going in and probably getting fired. And probably not doing ministry anymore. And having someone like that pour into me changed me. Who who do you have? Who do you have that you've given the right to speak into your life?

Who are you speaking life into? Because some of us have some friends that right now we see them at the beginning of a train wreck and it's it doesn't look good. Are are you speaking wisdom into them? Not to show them that you're right, but to to steer them away from temptation.

And again, with the same approach as Abigail, where you're going in not as the authority and not as the the the master of all creation, but going in with humility and speaking wisdom to them and loving them and and wanting what's best for them. Do you have people around you that are waiting for your voice

And you understand it could change everything. If you haven't found it here, can I say firsthand that this is a really cool place to find it? I've officially been at Rock Point now for just about a month.

And if you've we've talked or you you've man, we've hung out at all. You man, this has been a really hard couple months for me. It's

it's been terrible. I I I'm not not a big fan of of 2018. My son's been super sick. We're really close to like a heart transplant, and it's just just been hard. It's been so difficult to walk through that and try to still be a dad. I'm running out of what to say to him to try to keep his spirits up.

I I don't I don't know what to do. They didn't there wasn't a class for this when I signed up to be a dad. Friday, Sean called me. Worship guy, Sean? I don't know how he got my phone number. Because I it's weird now that I'm saying it out loud. Like, he called he called me Friday and was just,

hey, dude. This is Sean, man. I just wanted to pray for you. And he reminded me that sometimes friends aren't necessarily blood to be family. And he took a moment to just speak into me. And it was simple. It took like five minutes. And I guarantee you that you have friends around you

that are waiting for you to do the same thing. Just make a phone call. It could be as simple as just a phone call saying, hey, dude. I know things are hard right now. Can I just pray for you? Not to give advice. Not to say, hey, know how you feel because no, you don't. Let me just pray for you.

Maybe there's friends that that are that are around you right now that are looking to you to say something because they're on the the crest of doing something that could be horrible for them.

And they're waiting for you to speak wisdom to steer them away from temptation because a really good friend doesn't lead you towards temptation. They lead you away from it. There's pockets designed all through this church for that. You're never going to experience

true community until you experience community with believers. It's just I don't know why it's true. It just is. What's great in all of this is this one truth. And even if you're like Tim, nobody would accept me if I went into a small group. I would be the outcast. You you don't know. You're right. I don't.

I know this. I know that there's a God who accepted you who did a much better job of what Abigail tried to do with David. There there's a God who sent his son to be the advocate for you to steer you from temptation and to free you from sin. It's the whole point of Jesus. It's again, it's why we do this.

Because there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. There's a friend of this guy named Jesus who follows you through those things. And if you'll pay attention to him, he gives you alternative routes that that lead away from temptation.

And in my walk on this planet, I I can say without any doubt and with any any hesitation that every hard thing that I've stepped through, God's carried me. And he's been the friend that's never that's never been unreliable.

He he's been the friend that showed up when he said he would. He he's been the friend that's been there when I needed him the most. He's been the friend that was there when I didn't really want a friend there.

And he's carried me through all of it and it's not because of me. It's because of who he is and it's the same for you. What would your lives look like today if we took that circle of friends and we started evaluating? Who's speaking into our lives? Who have I given the right

to speak wisdom into me? Who am I speaking wisdom to? And we took Abigail's approach and with humility we started helping each other be more like Jesus. And we stopped just doing life and experiencing community and family. Not all of us have been in wars but we've all fought wars.

And through those hard times, man, true friendships develop and that's why we do this. I wanna pray for us. And as I do, I just want you to do this, man. Who is that one person? Maybe you should just say thank you. I wish anything right now. I could text or call Jay and just say thank you.

Who is that one person that you could just say thanks for for pouring into you and keeping you? Who is one person that you should maybe set up some time this week to grab coffee, and just to hang out and just to speak wisdom and and show them a different way from temptation.

God, thank you for for grace.

Jesus, thank you for loving us. Thank you for for all of this not being about who we are, but God, all of this being about who you are. God, I thank you for just the simple truth that even though we do screw up and we mess up and we have all these blemishes on our record, that Jesus, that you set us free from that, that that you pulled us not only away from temptation, but God, that you direct us in a way of life, in a way of fullness,

and God to a path that leads towards something that we can't even see. So God, would you first just let us start just by in this moment saying thank you to you. For God for being a friend that sticks closer to a brother, for being a friend that's reliable, for being a friend who's always there, for being that voice

and that that system of of faith that we can trust in that has never and will never let us down. God, would you help us today to to look and really just be honest to evaluate who we have and who we've allowed to speak in our lives? And, God, would you help us to maybe shuffle some some

some voices and maybe move some voices out who don't really have our best interest at heart and maybe move some voices in that are gonna point us away from temptation and point us towards you.

And God, would you give us the wisdom to do this and would you give us the humility of Abigail to do this in a way that honors you and points towards you? And God, would you would you do more through us than we can imagine and build family in this building, God, that goes deeper than blood

and change the valley because of who you are. So God do these things again because of you and use us and God just to make your name famous. So Jesus we ask this today in your name. Amen. Amen.