5 Things To Look For In Godly Friends | Mark 2:1–12 | Pastor Ty Hayes

What kind of friends are helping shape your faith? In this message from Mark 2:1–12, Pastor Ty Hayes unpacks five powerful qualities to look for in godly friendships through the story of the men who carried their friend to Jesus. 

Discover how the right people can strengthen your faith, push you closer to Christ, and help carry you through life’s hardest moments. This practical and challenging message will encourage you to surround yourself with friends who don’t just support your life—but strengthen your walk with God.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Amen. Awesome. If you have your Bibles, we are starting Mark chapter two today. How many of you guys enjoyed Mark chapter one? Anybody enjoy Mark chapter one? Two of you? Awesome. The rest of you, I'm glad you bared through it. It's good. No, we're starting Mark chapter two today, and I want to talk to you a little bit about friendship. How many of you guys want more friends? Anybody? How many of you guys want better friends? Hey, your friends sitting next to you, keep your hands low, it's scary. Today I want to talk to you about the privilege, the honor, and the benefit of having godly friends in your life. With that said, let's go ahead. We're going to be in Mark chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. It says, When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. Catch this. Jesus is in a house. This house is so full, people can't even come inside. While he's preaching God's word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on the mat right down in front of Jesus, seeing their faith. This is my favorite part, seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, My child, your sins are forgiven. If we ended right there, this would be like the best story, but it goes on. It says, But some of the teachers of the religious law, catch this, some of the church people, some of the pastors of the time were sitting there and thought to themselves, What is he saying? This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven, or stand up and pick up your mat and walk? So to prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins, then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, Stand up, pick up your mat and go home. And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed, praise God, exclaiming, We've never seen anything like this before. Let's pray. God, right now, I thank you for who you are. I thank you for this time together. I pray as we dive into your word this morning, God, as we get ready to celebrate, have picnics, have food, God, as we dive into your word this morning, I pray that everything we do today would be about you. That God, as we talk with one another, as we hear your word, as we sing these songs, God, as we eat our food, everything we do today would just bring you glory. God, we love you. We thank you. Name I pray. Amen. Have any of you ever had friends drag you into something and get you kind of in trouble?

unknown 2:39

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Have any of you ever heard from your parents? Well, if your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off that bridge? I'm here to tell you that my friends and I did jump off a bridge. So I'm just saying, like, obviously, it's true. I love my friends. I'm very close with many of my friends, and man, it is not hard for my friends to talk me into doing things. It's really fun. In fact, I remember one time uh me and my friends were hanging out late, and we went to a sherry's at about 11 o'clock at night. Now, how many of you guys have ever heard of a sherry's? It's kind of like Denny's, you know, it's the it's the all night place. Most of them have closed down now, but man, we're going to this all-night diner. We're sitting there, we're having the same conversations we have every week, we're getting the same food we have every week, and most of us are just getting pie or coffee and just sitting there. And it's about two o'clock in the morning. And we're sitting there at two o'clock in the morning in our late teens, early 20s, and we're like, man, we're just having so much fun. We don't want to go home, but what is there to do in a small town at two o'clock in the morning? So my friend gets this idea. He's like, we should play hide and go seek. I'm like, bro, we're we're like 19, not nine. Like, what are you talking about, hide and go seek? And he's like, no, no, no, no, no. He's like, I know of these lava caves, you know, outside of town that we can go to, we can go play hide and go seek. And I'm like, do we have any flashlights? He's like, I got some glow sticks. Perfect. How could this not go bad? So at two o'clock in the morning, I kid you not, we grab, we go to the gas station, we fill up my friend's tank, we get our snacks, we have the glow sticks in our hand, we pull up into the parking lot, and I'm like, dude, I don't, I don't see a cave. And he's like, Oh, it's out there somewhere. Okay. So we start walking out there, we're looking around, we're eating our snacks, we're talking. It's like three plus in the morning at this time, and tired starts to hit like it does, like a wall. And we're sitting there and we're really tired and we're looking around. And my friend's like, maybe we should just give up. And I'm like, bro, it is past three in the morning. You've had us out here walking around for 45 minutes by this time. I've eaten all my snacks. We are playing hide and go seek. Like, I don't care. It could be as lame as can be. We are doing it. And so all my friends were they're like, sure, whatever. And we get to this point where most of my friends are like, hey, you know what? We're just gonna go find the truck. We want to go home. And I'm just like not having it. I was like, you know what, fine, I'll find this cave. And I look out and I actually find this cave entrance. You have to like climb down into it and go. And I'm like, I'm doing it. I'm gonna find it. And I have one friend left with me, and he's like, Are you sure this is a good idea? Like, no, that's what makes the best stories. Come on, I'm gonna be a preacher one day. I need these good stories. And so I climb down into this hole. I have this glow stick, which means I can see about this far in front of me, and I'm standing in this cave and I get down to the bottom and I swear I hear a noise. And when you hear noises, you guys ever like had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and you hear a noise, and it's noises just hit you different. Usually noises aren't bad, but when noises hit you in the middle of the dark, noises hit different. So I have this glow stick, and it glow sticks at this point are really lame because people can see you, but you can't see them, you know what I mean? So I got this glow stick and I'm looking around and I hear more noise, and I'm thinking maybe my friends decided to come into the cave, and so I get a little closer and I hear more noise, and I hear get a little closer and I hear more noise, and all of a sudden I get to the spot and I start bending down and I look out and I see about probably two, three dozen homeless guys sitting around a campfire. Now they have not seen me, but I've seen them. So I quickly drop my glow stick, I start to revert back, and one of them has a dog. And I step back, and that dog kind of looks up, starts growling, and all the the guy's like, hey, calm down, calm down to his dog, and he begins to look over and he's like, Hey, who are you? I've never ran so fast in my life. I go running, I climb out of that cave. I don't even know if I can't even remember if I found my friend's truck or what happened, but somehow I get home and I'm like, I'm never going to play hide and go seek at three in the morning ever again. Man, your friends have a huge impact on your life. Let me ask you, where are your friends taking you? Where are your friends taking you? Today I want to give you five things to look for in godly friends. Did you know that Harvard University found that happiness, habits, and even life choices are heavily influenced by the closest relationship and social networks in your life. So the question is not, where is your circle taking you? Or sorry, the question is not, does do you have a circle? Because every one of us have friends, we have family members, we have coworkers, people that influence us. But the question is really, where is your circle taking you? Because some people will take you closer to Jesus, they'll help you tear through that roof, but some are trying to convince you not to climb anymore. And can I tell you one godly friend can change the entire outcome of your life? So, number one, if you're taking notes, and I encourage you to do so, write this down. Number one, they refuse to be stopped. See, these godly friends don't quit even when the path gets crowded. In Mark 2, it said that the house was so packed with people, and most of us, when we go to, we're we're pretty introverted, right? We go and we see a house party and we're looking for any excuse to be talked out of it, anyways. And if we pull up and the parking lot's full and the house is full and there's too many people, how many of you guys know you're just like, I'm just gonna keep driving, I'm going home. It would be easy for this man to say, man, we really wanted to see Jesus. We really wanted to get our friend healed and brought to Jesus, but this is just too busy, it's just too much. We'll have to try another time. Can I tell you, we need to look for people in our lives that don't interpret obstacles as God said, no, but as God has not finished the story yet. See, the four friends had carried this paralyzed man and they discovered that this house is too packed. There's no room at the door, there's no path through the crowd, and there's no easy access to Jesus. And most of us, if we're honest, would have turned around in this moment. The story would be over. We'd say, Yeah, we tried, it's too busy, we'll try again. Can I tell you that godly friends don't stop at the first obstacle? I remember being 16, me and my friends went on a raft trip. We're on this guided raft trip, and me and my best friend at the time, his name was Josh, we're sitting in this raft. He was 15, I was 16, and we like to talk a little smack, I'll be honest. And there's cute girls there, and they're wearing river sh river clothes, and uh we're there and we're wearing river clothes, so there's less, you know, covered up than the knot. And there's this right raft guy that's like 20-something years old, and I was just having the time of my life because he was wearing some kind of like straw hat, but the top was cut out of it. And I don't know why, but I was just like my inner bully just came out, and I was teasing him, and my friend was teasing him, and finally, this guy gets so annoyed with us that he grabs his oar, puts it on my friend's face, and pushes him out of the boat. And I'm just sitting there and I see the boat keep moving, and I see my friend back there in the water, and I'm kind of looking back and forth, like, what do I do? And I'm like, you know what? I'd rather go down with my friend than stay on this boat. So I jump out and I'm with my friend. Can I tell you that real friends don't let obstacles get in the way? There's a quote that I love: Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. See, these men had whatever it takes kind of faith. They refuse to let inconvenience become an excuse. They refuse to let difficulty decide the outcome, and the crowd was big, but their faith was even bigger. And can I tell you the sad reality is some friends are this there to help you quit. They're there to convince you not to bother, not to try that it's too difficult. But godly friends should tell you that you need to push through. Amen. See, you need people around you who don't panic when things get hard, who don't disappear when life gets messy, and don't back down every time there's opposition. Can I tell you everybody looks committed when the road is easy? When you're winning, everybody wants to be around you, everyone's excited. But real friends show up even when life gets difficult, even when it seems like the door is blocked. Because anyone can cheer from a distance, anyone can cheer from a sideline, but a real friend grabs the corner of your stretcher and helps carry you through the crowd in order to find Jesus. Amen. All right, everyone say two. Number two, they carry the weight. See, the paralyzed man never gets to Jesus on his own. This man is paralyzed, he can't move. He cannot get to Jesus on his own. He is carried by his friends the entire way. See, godly friends don't just encourage you from a distance, they carry your burden up close. Many of us, we've had times in our life where we carry emotional weight, we carry spiritual exhaustion, and we have seasons where we feel like we can't move ourselves forward. See, real friends, they don't just spectate your struggles, they shoulder it. They want to help you. When I first started working out the gym, it was like 2020, and I had this guy in my church uh who happens to be my tattoo artist, and he was a like a board member of our church, and he looked at me and he's like, Ty, let's go to the gym together. Never really been into the gym before that, never really seen it, but I thought Tony was cool, and I was like, man, let's do it. And we show up at the gym, and every day me and him are meeting at the gym and we're working out and talking and do kind of stuff, and I love it. Uh, my friend Tony was a very good uh gym partner. I was not so good. I struggle with uh attention and focus, and we'd be at the gym, and uh, when I was working out, he'd be there to catch the weight as soon as I dropped it. But when he was working out, I remember this one time he's going for uh a PR. For those of you that don't know, that's like a personal record on the bench press, and he's lifting more weight than I could probably uh it would take like three of me to lift. And so he's sitting there and he's doing it, and I'm not thinking much of it. I'm kind of spacing out thinking, what am I gonna have lunch for today? What should I wear for work today? What should I do for this or that? I'm just kind of thinking of everything, and all of a sudden I hear him say, Hey Ty, hey Ty, hey Ty, and I look down and he's got the bar like down here, and he's wiggling around, and I have to grab it up and pull it up. See, we want friends that are paying attention to our situation that when we're going through that hard time can help us pick up the weight and carry the load. See, research shows that people become like the five friends they spend the most time with. Has anyone heard that before? That we become like the five people we spend the most time with. That's true in mindset, that's true in our habits, that's true, it's it's strangely true of even our income. That they say that if you want to improve your income, one of the best ways you can do so is to expand your circle. It's true of your emotional health, and it's true of your spiritual direction. The people that you surround yourself with are very, very important. It's why I like to remind my wife that she's just gotten cooler and cooler the longer we've been married because she's been around me. I'm just saying, come on. But this man cannot get to Jesus by himself. He's completely dependent on others to move him forward. And that's why friendship is so powerful. That he was carried to a place that he could not get to alone. And godly friends understand that there are gonna be seasons where we are weak, where we are exhausted, where we are wounded, and we are overwhelmed. And there's gonna be times that a real friend will know that you're more of a burden to them than a delight, and they still are there for you. See, sometimes people don't need another lecture. And sometimes people aren't strong enough to carry their own load. Well, the book of Galatians says this they carry each other's burdens. It's why I don't understand people that are like, oh, I'm a Christian, oh, I believe in Jesus, but I want nothing to do with church. Man, who's gonna carry your burdens if not a fellow believer? Who's gonna point you towards Jesus if not a member of your church? Who's gonna help you in those darkest moments if not a good friend? See, because some people are carrying your calling while other people are trying to crush it. And you're gonna have moments in your life where God has called you to do things and God wants to work a miracle in your life, and the only thing holding you back from experiencing it is the people around you. See, real friends say things like, I'm not leaving you here. You don't have to fight alone, and I will help you hold on until you can walk again. Can I tell you what scares me about the culture today and in our world is that we value independence probably too much. That we want it to be all about us, that we have this idea that we are gonna celebrate the lone wolf archetype. Man, we look up to people that are like, they don't need anyone, they can do it all themselves. But can I tell you that the kingdom teaches us to be burden-bearing people? And you can't carry somebody else's burden, you can't, you can't be lifted up, you can't lift other people up on your own. And let me just get like really serious about this. You will never make a lasting legacy doing things by yourself. I mean, for a short moment, you might do something, you might feel good about something, but as soon as you're not a part of it, it's done. If you want to leave a legacy, if you want to change things in the long term, then you need people around you. Notice this nobody knows the name of these four men. The Bible doesn't tell us. But heaven and Jesus take the time to record their faith for the rest of eternity. For the rest of the existence, people are gonna hear their story and how their faith changed their friends. See, godly friends learn how to notice and carry your weight. Is this helpful for you this morning? All right, number three, they are creative under pressure. See, real friends don't panic when the normal ways begin to fail. They ask better questions like what else can we try? What hasn't been done yet? And how do we get you to Jesus, anyways? See, faithful friends don't stop at obstacles, they innovate through them. When the normal way doesn't work, when the door is blocked, when the room was full, when the crowd was in the way, instead of giving up, they got creative. They climbed on the roof, they tore through it, and they lowered their friend right in front of Jesus. You know, if this place was too packed and the door was blocked, my first thought wouldn't be, let's get on the roof and dig our way through, just being honest. I love that these men have a creative mindset where they're saying, we're gonna do whatever it takes to get this man before Jesus. See, faith-filled friends don't just see problems, they look for possibilities. When I was 16 years old, I was in high school and I had a crush on this girl, her name was Stacy. And then Stacy made it very clear that although I had feelings for her, she did not reciprocate, we'll put it lightly. I remember one day in front of all my friends, she really embarrassed me because I said, Stacy, I know you got a lot of feelings for me. And she's like, Ty, I hate you. And I looked at her and said, Exactly, you have a lot of feelings for me. See, it works out. Sometimes you just gotta be creative in your perspective. See, because anybody can say, that won't work. Anyone can say it's impossible, and anyone can say, it's never been done that way. Who here has had people criticize and discourage you? If we're honest, all of us have. See, godly friends are different and they're willing to think differently if it helps get people before Jesus. Can I be honest? The people I like being around, the very, very least, are naysayers. People that when you tell them your dreams, when you tell them what God's doing in your life, when you tell them what you're looking forward to, they always have a reason why it's not gonna work out. Anyone ever met people like that? If you haven't, jump on social media, they'll find you, trust me. I kid you not, I remember the day that the that we had announced as a church that we're taking Fort Hall on as a campus and that we're excited to see what God's gonna do, that God had spoken, that we're gonna bleed for it, and I had one particular person find me on social media, write me a message that says, This is never gonna work out for you, and I can't wait to laugh at you when this blows up in your face. And I was like, wow, thank you. That's really encouraging. Like, wow, man, there is no lack of naysayers in this life. And can I encourage you? If you are one, it's never too late to change. Can I tell you the world has enough discouragement? The world has enough people telling you no or why not. We need more people to say, hey, I believe in you. Hey, that's gonna be difficult, but if God said it, he's gonna do it. Hey, how can I help? What can we do? How many of us want more friends like that? Come on. See, notice how many people's hands are raised. I just encourage you, let's not just be people looking for those friends, let's be people who are looking to be those kind of friends to other people as well. See, your circle will either stretch your faith or it'll shrink it. Because the people around you can either make excuses or they can make a way for you to experience Jesus. Because creative faith says we can do it. The door is still open and we can reach other people that no one else is reaching. And for them, the roof became the breakthrough that this man needed. And sometimes the obstacle in front of you is actually God trying to present an opportunity for you. But here's the issue: many of us, we become comfortable with the amount of faith that of those around us. And if we're not careful, the people around us, their faith is either gonna grow ours or it's gonna shrink it. And when we get comfortable around low-faith people, people that discourage us, people that tell us no, then man, it's gonna be easy for us to fall into that. We need to always go out of our way to be around people of faith that encourage us to go after what God has called us to do. Amen. Number four, we got two more. Number four, they will pay the cost. Can I tell you that tearing apart someone's roof is not nice? I don't want someone to do that to me. It's not convenient, it leaves a pretty big mess, and it's probably gonna be really expensive to fix. I remember I worked for a buddy, he was a roofer, and he asked me to help him, and I said, sure. And we're we're working on this old man's right down the street's house. And this old man, his house was falling apart, and my friend's like, hey man, I I really want to help him. And he was a good Christian business owner and everything. And we take off the roof, and all of a sudden we notice that the beams of the roof are sinking in. And we go to talk to this man and we're like, hey, we just want you to know that your roof is literally sinking in. This is gonna be more than just pulling off tiles and replacing them. Like, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to adjust some things. And the man's like, hey, uh, I appreciate that. I don't have the money for it. And I remember my friend looked at me and he's like, hey, I'm willing to volunteer so many hours to help him. And I was like, Oh, I'm not gonna be that guy. So I'm like, me too, man, me too. And so we we get up there and we pull off the roof, and we notice that the beams are like broken and rotting and caving in. So we go in there and we start replacing beams before we put on the roof. And while we're in the attic, the guy says, Hey, can you just take a look around? And we find termites infesting everything that he owns. So we're throwing boxes of garbage into a garbage can, we're replacing all the beams, and what could have been a two-day job turned into a two-week job. Can I tell you? I tell you this, that replacing a roof is not inexpensive, it's actually really expensive and it takes a lot of time. But these godly friends understood something that love costs something, that faith costs something, and that breakthrough in our life often costs us something. And can I tell you the reason why many of us don't experience God the way that we think that we want to is because we're not willing to pay the price. Can I just ask you, when's the last time you gave up something for God? When's the last time that you took a step of faith, even when it was uncomfortable, even when it didn't make sense? It is so easy for us to get comfortable in our American Christian uh Christianity. Because church is nice and the people are nice and the music is nice and everything's encouraging, and I I love that. I think that's great. But when is the last time we really put ourselves out there for our faith? Can I tell you if these friends would have turned away, they wouldn't have experienced a miracle. And I wonder how many times we get to somewhere and we see an obstacle and we're just like, that's not for me. When God was waiting to do something, if he would just pay the price, that was a good spot for an Amen. I don't know. See, they don't just want. Miracles for you, they're willing to participate and making room even if it costs them something. Because tearing off somebody's roof was expensive. The miracle was messy, it was inconvenient, and it interrupted everything. Everyone in that room began to look up because they're seeing things fall down, they're moving out of the way, they're screaming, they're looking up, and these men walk through. These friends decided that their friend mattered more than their comfort. And godly friends are willing to pay a price for you. See, these friends are willing to give up their energy and their time and their effort and their sweat and their embarrassment and probably a good amount of money to tear through that roof. But they believe that if they could just get their friend before Jesus, that it would all be worth it. Can I tell you that the greatest friendships in your life are often gonna cost you something? Late-night phone calls, difficult conversations, uncomfortable honesty, some sacrifice and showing up even when it's inconvenient. Because shallow friends disappear when sacrifice begins. This isn't in my notes, but I'm just it's just coming to my mind right now. About three years ago, before I came here, I got let go from my job and my life was a disaster. Like the pastor that let me go didn't just say, hey man, it's not working out. He was trying to convince me to get out of ministry. That I should, that the call of God was not on my life. And I was at a place where I was in turmoil. And I remember I called Pastor Kyle and was like, man, I don't know what to do. And he walked through that with me. Two years later, Pastor Kyle walks through a very similar circumstance where he's feeling betrayed and hurt. And I'm able to walk with him through that. That's what godly friendship looks like, guys. That when things get rough, when things get tough, we're willing to step forward. Can I tell you, godly friendship grows deeper through sacrifice? It's not about time spent, it's not about who you've known longest, it's about who is willing to walk through the nonsense, walk through the poo. Let me just go for it. Walk through the crap of your life. I have a friend named Andy. He preached here last summer. Some of you might remember him. Me and Andy haven't known each other that long. We've known each other about two years. We met on Facebook. We wrote back and forth. We've never met each other in person. Andy comes and visits, preaches for me, all that stuff. Me and Andy have become very close friends very fast because we've walked through stuff with each other. Can I tell you that when you find a good friend like this that's willing to pay the price, you hold on to them. The wrong crowd will make you feel guilty for growing. The right crowd will challenge you to grow. And even American psychology found that how important it is for friends because real friends will significantly reduce stress in your life and increase resilience during difficult seasons. It means when you have a real friend willing to encourage you and walk through things with you, that you will be more likely to stick it out. See, Jesus didn't save us from a distance. And we can't be a good friend and we can't love people and their mess from a distance. All right. Last one, number five. Everyone say, Praise God. Can I tell you guys? It's one service. I can go as long as I want. I'm just saying, nah, that's good. Last one, number five. They got Jesus' attention. They get Jesus' attention. Verse five of this passage says, When Jesus saw their faith. Catch how powerful that is. Jesus, the God of the universe, sees them and he sees their faith and he is impressed. Jesus responds to one thing in the story. Notice Jesus doesn't respond to a big crowd. Jesus doesn't respond to needs. He doesn't respond to religious people. He doesn't respond to a big party. Jesus responds to one thing in this whole story, and that's their faith. See, he didn't just look at the man on the mat, but he looked at his friends and said, Man, if he has friends with that kind of faith that really are willing to pay that price, what can I do? See, you need to look for friends whose faith is so visible that Jesus has to respond to it in your life. See, Jesus responds to visible, active, determined faith. The crowd was there, the Pharisees were there, the critics were there, but the faith of these four friends stood out. This isn't in my notes either, but I just want to highlight something for a second. It's why me and Miss Jeannie are good friends. I don't, I don't, some of you might get uncomfortable with spiritual things. I'm a pastor, you should expect it. Come on. When we took on that four halt campus, I can't explain it. Every week I would go out to preach, I would get physically ill the moment that we'd show up. And I'm not like somebody that's just like, oh, I don't feel so good. Like I would be like, I'm gonna throw up all over the pulpit. I don't mean to get gross. And every week I'd show up for months. Every week I'd be good to go. We'd show up and I would get physically ill. And as soon as we would get in the car and go to drive away, I felt better. Remember, there's this one day where I was like, man, today's gotta be the day. I'm over there leading worship before I preach. And a lady shows up with a literal dragon, like a huge threat and dragon, and she's waving around during worship. And I'm kind of like, do I take my guitar and start swinging? Or like, what do I do? I don't know. And I watched Miss Jeannie walk up to her and rebuke her in the name of the Lord, and the lady leaves, and uh there's there's more to it. It's a crazy story. But after that, Miss Miss Jeannie and I were talking, and I was like, Jeannie, I don't know what to do. Like, I'm trying to fight this, but I want to give up. The people are being really mean, demons are showing up, dragons are flying up everywhere. I'm getting sick, like I want to quit. And Jeannie's like, hey, I'm gonna pray for you. And for seven weeks, Jeannie does what's called a Jericho March. She walks around the church and she prays for me every week before this happens. And all of a sudden, that feeling of sickness begins to go away. All of a sudden, when I go up to preach, I'm filled with excitement and passion like never before. And now we're seeing more people get saved in the Fort Hall campus than has ever happened in their church's history. Can I tell you why that happened? Not because of my faith, because of Jeannie's faith. Can I tell you, we need godly people around us like that because there's a difference between being around Jesus and getting his attention. See, the Pharisees were there, the pastors of the day, the church crowd, they were there, but all they were doing is criticizing. But these four friends, they literally will climb and carried and dug holes so their friend can meet Jesus. One group, the church group, they are analyzing the miracle while other people are experiencing it. Think about that. You can be in this church, the same God, the same Jesus is here today. You can be in this church and you can be so busy analyzing. What did Tai say wrong? Well, that music note was bad. Well, that person was kind of weird. Well, the coffee doesn't taste good. You could be so criticizing and in a mindset of analyzing that you miss out on the same miracles that somebody else is experiencing that day. You need friends whose faith challenges your faith, friends who make you believe bigger, and friends who push you towards Jesus instead of away from him. I'm kind of a junkie for church conferences, just being honest. Any excuse I get to be around pastors that are gonna be like, go do more, go do more. I'm all about it. And I remember my first year here, I dragged uh a couple of our staff and Pastor Bambi. I'm like, hey, I'm taking you to Texas to go to this conference. And Bambi's like, why? That's this seems weird. You know, what's in Texas? All my exes. I don't know. It's good. Um we we show up, we get in the car, it's like 5 a.m. and we're driving to Salt Lake to catch a flight to Texas. Now I'd only lived here a few like a few months, it's my first year, and I'm not very smart, so I don't Google how to get to Salt Lake Airport. I just remember every time I go to Twin Falls, there's a sign that says Salt Lake. So I get on the highway and I'm heading up towards Twin Falls. And Bambi's like, so uh where are you going? Salt Lake. She's like, you know, the other way's faster. And I'm like, in my vast experience of American Falls, you are wrong, Bambi. What are you talking about? And eventually she she shows me on Google and we turn around and we get going in the right direction. In that moment, I was trying to lead us into a bad direction, but Bambi, as my friend, steered and corrected us to go the right way. Can I tell you, your friends are important, the people that speak into your life are important because not everyone in your life is taking you someplace you want to go, someplace you're called to. Can I tell you some people are really fun, but they're directionless. And they're a good time, but you ultimately find that they're going nowhere. Some people are loyal, they'll be with you, but they are spiritually stagnant. And some people will even normalize compromise in your life. They'll try to say it's not a big deal. Can I tell you? We don't just need good people around us. We need people that are headed towards Jesus and want to take us with them. And there's a difference. We're not looking for people that just dress the right way, say the right things. We're looking for people that are going after Jesus and want us to do the same. Because the right people can change the directions of your entire life. 14 years old, and many of you have heard this. Uh, struggling in school, I thought I was dumb. Turns out I just wasn't interested. Uh, no dad, single mom, always getting into trouble, addicted to things, feeling broken in my life. I had a school counselor that said, Where do you see yourself going? I said, I don't know. And they said, Well, statistically, probably jail. I was like, Well, now I have a five-year plan, jail, like this works out, like it's good. We're talking through this, everything they're showing me because of my temperament, my personality, my life circumstance, it was crazy. They're like, Well, statistically, like, there's like an 80-something percent chance that you're gonna line up in jail every like for the rest of your life. Very encouraging for a young teenage boy. And can I tell you, I I honestly believe that's where I would have been going with everything, with everything I was doing, where with everything where my mind was, I believe that's where I was going until I met my pastor. Many of you know him, his name's Jeremy. And Jeremy was a newly saved guy that didn't know everything he know he knows now about the Bible, but just loved Jesus, loved skating, and loved us. And I went to a youth group where uh this is weird, but ironically, there's probably more swearing than amens in the youth group. But can I tell you that many of our lives were transformed? And it's important that we get around godly people. I'm not, I'm not talking just churchy people, I'm not talking just good people. We get around godly people because when we meet them and they point us towards Jesus, our life can be dramatically changed. And can I tell you that you will rarely rise above the expectation of the people that surround you? It's why you gotta surround yourself with people that expect more from you than you thought you could ever be. These four friends determine the very future of this man. And this man walked out forgiven, he walked out healed, and he walked out transformed for the rest of his life. Have you guys ever been in the airport and you you're walking and they have those like what are they called, like moving walkways, you know, where they're moving forward while you're walking and you go like super fast. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I think they're really fun. I like to walk on them. I feel like I'm like super speed, like the flash, because the people around you are walking, you're walking, you're just like, shh. I think they're really cool. Godly friends in your life is kind of like that. That when you're walking on your own, you're you're keeping a pace and you're doing the right thing. But when you get godly friends around you, when you get involved with the right people, the right church, the right momentum, Jesus is working in your life, it's like walking on a moving walkway. Everything in your life just seems to move forward and it moves forward at a much quicker pace. Can I tell you it is possible to know Jesus, to love Jesus by yourself? But if you want to move forward in your faith, if you want to move forward with Jesus, there's no better way to do it than with a church family and church friends. Amen. See, Christian studies show that the strongest indicator of your long-term spiritual growth, the strongest indicator of how close you're gonna get to Jesus, how involved you're gonna be in their church, how much your life is gonna be transformed, is your friendships. So, in closing, I want to say this the quality of your future is often tied to the quality of your friendships. So we need to choose friends who refuse to be stopped, who will carry your weight, who will think creatively under pressure, who will pay the cost, and live in a way that draws the attention of Jesus. Anyone here like camping? Anyone here like campfires? I could sit there and stare at a campfire all night. I can't explain it. I just love it. Have any of you ever taken like a like a piece of coal or like a log that's that's on fire and moved it away from the rest of the fire? Anybody ever done that? And you slowly begin to watch the coal grow dull and the fire go out, and pretty soon this thing that was blazing hot is now cooled down. Many of us, if we're not careful, the people that we gather around, when we begin to pull away from church, when we begin to pull away from godly friendships, that fire that's so late in us begins to fade. If you want to be on fire for Jesus, the best thing that you can do is get around other people who want to be on fire for Jesus. I want to end with this question. Who are the friends in your life that are helping you get closer to Jesus? Who are the friends in your life that are willing to pay the price for you, to do whatever it takes to encourage you to get closer to Jesus? If I could have everyone bow their heads and close their eyes, I just want to pray for a couple of people today. This first group, maybe you're here and you're hearing this message and you've realized that you're not a friend of Jesus, you're not following Jesus, and today you want to begin to follow Jesus, that you want to see your life transformed, that you want to begin to follow him. I want to give you that opportunity, and we as a church are gonna pray a prayer with you that if you believe and you pray, it says that God will save you, transform you, set you free so that you can follow him. On the count of three, if that's you, I want you to raise your hand. We're gonna pray with you. One, this is the most important decision of your life. More important than who you're married to, where you live, where you work, your relationship with Jesus is everything. Two, you might think, man, I'll do it later, I'll get it right later. Don't waste your life. Get right with Jesus today. Three, if that's you and you want to begin to follow Jesus, would you just raise your hand? We want to pray with you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Church, can we just pray this prayer together? Say, dear Jesus, thank you for loving me, for saving me, make me bold, make me powerful, make me loving. Help me to follow you all the days of my life. Amen. If you prayed that prayer and you meant it and you believe it, man, you are following Jesus, walking with Jesus today. The second group I want to pray for is maybe you're here and you are following Jesus, but you've realized one of two things. Either, man, you've realized your need for a godly friend, and you're desperate and you're like, man, I I've grown cold, I've grown soft, and I need you to pray for me that I would find more godly friends. Or maybe you're on the other side where you've been sitting there and you're like, man, I haven't been much of a godly friend to other people. And you feel convicted and called by Jesus to be a friend to people so that they can experience Jesus just like you have. If that's you, whether you need a good friend or you want to be a better friend, if that's you, would you raise your hand? I want to pray for you today. God, right now you see these hands and you know these lives. I pray as we leave this place, God, that you would make us bold, powerful, and loving. That God, it would be said of us that we were the best of friends because we led people to Jesus, that we would pay the cost for them, that we would love them dearly. God, our biggest desire is to know you. Our biggest desire is to be known. Bring people around us that love us, that change the destiny and trajectory of our life. We love you. We thank you. In your name, I pray, and everyone said, Amen.