Thoughts About Friendship

June 15th, 2017 Thurs. Sermon 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Sharper's War, the publication ministry of White House Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California. White House believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ. We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message for the Word of God.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Take your Bible tonight, real quick. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter number four. Appreciate it if you're visiting here tonight. Thanks for being here. Ecclesiastes chapter four. Let me give you a scripture that many of our people would know. It may be new to someone here tonight, but many of our people would know. I want to point out one word to you, though, in this scripture that kind of changes the uh the context of what's being said. Ecclesiastes chapter four. And again, if you've been around the Bible very long, you've heard something preached about this. But verse number nine. Verse number nine, two are better than one. Because they have a good reward for their labor. Now, that scripture, that's not the scripture I want to talk to you about, but that scripture says, whatever you do, don't try to labor alone. Don't try to do it alone. Don't think you're you're the Lone Ranger out there and laboring. You can get something done, but what he says is two are much better than one in labor. And when you're laboring, it's good to have somebody next to you. That's why he sent them out two and two. In the New Testament, he sent them out two and two. Uh in a lot of places in the Bible, he didn't let them go alone. When uh when Gideon needed to go down, he said, take four or with you. And there's a lot of two and two going on. That's not the title of the message. Verse 10 is. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. I want you to see the concept of the word woe, underlying the word woe. Here's what he says in context, two's better than one. Don't go do it alone. Because you'll have a good reward for your labor if you'll do it by two. One will chase a thousand, two will chase ten thousand. The concept is synergy. But be careful if you try to do it alone, if there's a fall, if there's a faltering, if there's a discouragement, if there's a setback, if there's a failure. It's good to have someone with you that will lift you up, that will hold you up, that'll uphold you, that will encourage you. If they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. And then he says this: woe to him that is alone when he falleth. For he hath not another to help him up. That woe there is uh is something that says this uh it's a calamity, it's a warning. A woe is like a disastrous. You know what he says? He says, it it'll be disastrous if you fall and you're alone. It will be uh grievous. Uh it it will it will be such a great, heavy misfortune if you fall out there and you don't have someone to lift you up. Therefore, I want to make this statement to you. Friendship is important. Friendship is important. The older you get, the more you realize the importance of friendship. Having people around you, being an encouragement to someone else and having someone else there to encourage you. Please, let's, let's, let's get in our mind. It's a woe, it's a W-O-E, it's a potential disaster if you try to do it alone. It's a grievous calamity if you try to do this thing alone, because if you falter or if you fail, sooner or later you need a brother that's born for adversity. Ladies need ladies to help them up. I'll say it again. Ladies need the encouragement of ladies. And I'm not saying a husband can't encourage a wife, a wife can't encourage a husband. That's all true. But he says it's a woe, it's a warning, it's a it's a potential disaster if you try to do it alone. So here's what he's saying: is this, and I don't think I'm reading anything, it's not just that friendship is nice, and it's not just that friendship is necessary, it's vital. It's absolutely, according to the word of God, we'll look up some other scriptures, it's absolutely vital that you don't try to do this thing alone. Brethren, if you think, well, I'll just do it, or I'll just do it, just me and God, I'll just do it. I want you to look at Psalms 54. Please look at Psalms 54. I'm not saying that God is not enough. God is enough. I'll say it again: God is enough. But there's something that God does that we need to realize. Look at Psalms 54. And in Psalms 54, it's a little scripture in verse number four. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold my soul. Now let's stop there for a moment. Look at Psalms 54. It's, if you would, written, and it's a psalm of David, and David says, Behold, God's my helper. So is God enough? Sure. God is enough. But what God does is he says, The Lord is with them that uphold my soul. God often uses people to lift us up. God often sent them forth two by two in a reason. Brethren, you don't want to be alone too long, and I understand time alone with God is important. But in labors, it's good to have accountability. It's good to have somebody there with you. It's good to have a, well, I I went, I went soul winning uh, I don't know, a while back with Brother Cheney, and I said, Brother Cheney, I'm glad you're here with me. I don't, I don't, I knock doors, but I'm doing I do much better on follow-ups. Usually when I win somebody Christ or have the opportunity to lead someone to God to saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, I I it for me it's not normally at a door knocking, it's usually by appointment. What do you mean by appointment? It's by follow-up appointment. And I'll ask them about their salvation. And I get, I get, if I get to see fruit, I know I don't save anybody, but you get to tell somebody about the gospel, you get to labor together with God. God does the saving, but mine's usually not at door knocking, mine's usually at appointment follow-ups. That's what works for me. But I'm still supposed to carry the commission out there. I'm still supposed to be involved in that great commission. Come on, would you agree with that? And it doesn't matter whether you're good at it or not. Somebody says, I'm not good at it, so I don't do it. Look, duty is duty. When I was uh over at Third Recon, they made me an exo of a company. And you say, oh man, that must have been exciting. No, it was a paper pusher. What do you mean? The exo of a recon company is I had a platoon, I was an operative, out there, enjoyed it, got done with that rotation, and for two months they put me as an exo to a company commander, and that meant I was a paper pusher. I was not good at pushing paper. Administratively, I was terrible. I couldn't wait to get another operator platoon. Get me out of this office, please. Well, about a month and a half into it, the captain says, I gotta get you out of here. And I said, Thank you, sir. Thank you. He said, You know, you're terrible at this. I said, Thank you, sir. I didn't tell, I didn't, there was times I went home and I wasn't saying thank you, sir. But the point of it was, well, why'd you go to work? Because it was my duty. I was assigned to be an XO. I I wanted to be out in the field. I didn't want to be back there at the office, man. I wasn't good at office. But it was my duty to do. And even things we're not good at, we're supposed to still do it. Even though we know we're inadequate, not good at it, you know, I'll do it until somebody better comes along. Come on, are you still with me? And I'm not that great at door knocking, but you still gotta do it. I I I I used to street preach a lot. I don't street preach as much anymore, but I still find myself once in a while pulling up to a shopping center, going out on the corner and passing out tracks just because I know I still need to get tracks out. And it's kind of like burning still within me that I should do it, even though I don't feel like I'm good at it, I still should do it. Are you still with me tonight? But you can't do it alone. Because whoa, woe to him that tries to do that labor alone. Because when you fall or something comes along, and by the way, I was my my one of the thoughts today was we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, it's principalities and powers. And boy, will they try to get you to fall and failter, fail, and they'll try to get you alone. They want to separate you from the flock. They want to separate you from your encouragers. They want to get you to the woe, to the calamity, to the disaster. And I want you to see what it says in Psalm 54:4 Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is with them that uphold my soul. So God uses people to lift us up. How many times have you had somebody have that word fitly spoken that you needed? What do you mean? A word that's fitly spoken or that counsel that comes at the right time. Uh let me let me show you scripture that you know, please. Let's look at it real quick. Look at Proverbs 27. I want to show you a word. Proverbs 27. You know this scripture, but the one word I want you to get out of uh Ecclesiastes 4 is woe. It's a disaster. Be careful, don't isolate yourself. I say that to myself too. And now look at Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27. Along with this concept that a friendship is vital. It's important. It's not just necessary, it's vital. Look at verse 17. Verse 17. Iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. I I looked up the word sharpen in the old 1828 to uh to make eager, to activate. Almost the concept is to motivate. Changing somebody's countenance is what a friend can do for another friend. Somebody's a little bit on themselves a little bit. Uh I got I got a call tonight at 5 30 from a pastor saying, Do you have a minute? That minute turned into an hour. But that pastor needed a perspective. They were facing something and they needed a perspective. I want to tell you something. I didn't have the perspective going into that that phone call. But somewhere about 15 minutes in, God gave me a perspective that when I got off the phone call, I wrote it down. Because not only did he get something, but I got something. And and he said, I just want to thank you, Pastor, for taking this time. I know you got church tonight. I got to face the situation tonight. I needed the right perspective. And I got off the phone, I thought, I needed the right perspective too. And the Holy Ghost gave us that. And sharpeneth is to to to to to activate. Uh it's it's it's to make eager again. I know it means to fine-tune and to make keen, K-E-E-N, but it also has to do with uh with an eagerness again. Brethren, once in a while, isn't it good to get around eagerness, eager people? The old eager beaver, like motivated, like they always want to do it, be around the people that always want to do it. You know what's so good about people getting saved? They want to do it. They want to get with it. Man, that does something for us when you get around somebody who said, Boy, I want to learn. Boy, teach me. And you think, okay, teach them, okay, let's go back to the basic doctrines again. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with us going back to basic doctrine again and reminding ourselves and walking them through the deity of Christ, or walking them through, you know, some of the doctrines that we take for granted and going back and restudying those to where you can teach them again, to where it's just like uh like you're going through something, you go, you know, I I learned that, you know, in 1979. But it's good for me to go back and look at it again and refresh again. And Lord, give me that kind of zeal that I had when I was learning it for the first time. Help some of that to sharpen my countenance a little bit. Both Thaddeus, it's good around be around people that uh that that want to get in and get going. And I like what you said. They're a leader in our church now. You said that three times. They're a leader in our church now. They're a leader in our church now. And I thought, that's a great perspective. Somebody come in, they get rolling, they get faithful. That's a they're a lead person in our church now. Man, I remember those days. If they walked and talked and breathed and sang a song, I considered them a leader, amen. I'm serious. If they walked, talk, breathe, and sang hymns, that's a leader, man. This guy's got potential. That that family's got potential right there. You gotta look at people that way. Because where did God find us? Some of you, some of you grew up in church, but some of us didn't. Some of us, we came in from the you know what I'm talking about. So the the concept of sharpening. Now, stay with me. Look at chapter 25, or chapter 25. And brother Jim, I'm gonna use you, Brother Holder, in just a moment. Chapter 25. I've asked Brother Jim, I said, Jim, Brother Holder, Pastor Holder. Okay, Brother Jim, come on. I said, Brother Jim, I called him this afternoon. I said, Jim, I know, you know, I'm only 63 and he's a little bit older than that. And yeah, Brother Thaddeus, he got called. He came into my office to see me on staff at 80 years old and said, Brother Fisher, I I think I'm gonna go become a pastor of a church. They've called me. And I did like you. Oh. What do you do to somebody that's been saved 50 years? Somebody's been saved 50 years, had, you know, 35, 40 years of ministry, it's like, oh, okay. We're not even praying about this. He, you know, what can I do to help? He's being courteous to my office, but my goodness, this guy knows more on the tip of his finger than I have my whole brain. And when he said, I think God wants me to do this, I'm thinking, yes, sir, that sounds good to me. That's that's the calling right there, man. I didn't even think about because Jim doesn't act like he's old. I mean, he has a heart attack, and six weeks later he's preaching again. At at 82 or whatever age it is now. I don't know, he might be 104 for all I know. I don't, you know. He might be the next Moses, live to 120, man. I don't know. That's a good bloodline. Lord, just give me a little bit of that. So the the concept, though, is this it's in verse 11, Proverbs 25, 11, a word fitly spoken. Brethren, isn't a fitly spoken word that comes through the mouth of someone, doesn't it mean something? Especially when they're a friend. Let me give you the illustration of that, and then Brother Jim, you get ready to come and say a few words. Look at, if you would, at this, please. Look at uh look at 1 Samuel 23. 1 Samuel 23, talking about friendship tonight. The importance of it. We gotta be friends to each other. 1 Samuel 23. Watch, please, the uh the uh sequence here. And to those in our church, you've seen the the where I'm going, but watch the sequence. Look at 1 Samuel 23. David is fleeing. He's a fugitive, didn't make himself that way, like, didn't do anything to earn the fugitive status other than that he killed Goliath. Well, somebody got jealous of that, and David became this fugitive on the run. Well, he's uh he's up with a group of men there in verse number 11, and uh he asked of the Lord, Will the men of Keilah delivered me up into his hand? Are these are these men here at Keilah going to deliver me to the hand of Saul, the guy that's chasing me? Will Saul come down? He's asking God, as thy servant has heard, O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come down. Saul's coming after you. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my man, my men into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee. Now you ask, is Saul after you? And I'm telling you, he is. Is he coming? Yes, he is. Will these guys who you're with right now turn you over to Saul? Yes, they will. They will deliver you. So David and his men, and think about this, six hundred of them. Now you say, man, six hundred, that's a lot of men. Not when you got thousands coming against you. So David and his 600 men, they they departed and went whithersoever they could go. They didn't know who they could trust. They didn't know who was going to turn him over. They didn't know who while they were sleeping, if somebody's gonna lead them, leave Saul to them. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah. So David goes into one of the strongholds in the wilderness. Think about this rugged terrain. We're not talking about a city here. They're in one of the strongholds, and they're in the mountain in the wilderness. Well, when I think of a mountain, come on, don't think of a thousand-foot hill. They're in the mountainous terrain. It's not easy movement. And Saul sought him every day. Every day. And Saul wasn't playing games. He wanted to destroy David and all those with him. But God delivered him not into his hand. But every day the pressure was on. Every day Saul was after him. Every day. Wake up. You talk about being oppressed out in a wilderness. And I wish I could, I wish I could get into our minds just for a moment what it's like to be out in open country and you know somebody's hunting you. I don't know how to put you in that mindset. And the fear that goes along with that. And how you don't sleep well at night. I just don't know how to put you in that mindset. When you're in the enemy's territory. And you don't know where the enemy's at. And you just know that everybody out there would turn you over. Will the men of Keilah turn me over? Yeah, they'll turn me over. I just don't know how to put you in the mindset of the oppression that you're being sought every day. Because you deliver, you think, well, God delivered him not in his hand. But every day, you know what David's thinking about? I wonder where he's at. I wonder where I wonder where his his men are. I wonder where his scouts are. I wonder if they're watching us right now. I wonder if they they see us, but we don't see them. And see, that's hard to put you in that mindset because when you're out trying to get away or when you're hunting and you know you're being hunted. This is not like hunting Bambi. It's not like hunting an elk. This is like men hunting men and they're skilled at it. Come on, are you with me? It's like wake up and you think, I wonder if they saw us. Anybody light a campfire last night? Did we give ourselves away? How do you hide 600 men? And their provisions. How do you hide 600 men? How do you know if they sent out scouts and they they saw you and they got you? And they're just setting up. You don't know. So there's that fear. And David saw. He observed that Saul was come to seek his life. And David was in the wilderness. Now watch. And Jonathan. Remember, they're knit. K-N-I-T. They're already knit. What knit them? When Jonathan saw that young lad run down there with that slingshot, no armor on, no sword. And go after not only Goliath but his armor bear too. With just a slingshot. And he didn't run away from him. He ran toward him. It was the cavalry coming in. This was this was what, you know, the mechanized mobile strike force, slinging a slingshot, ducking and moving. See, where did he learn to do that? He had a lot of practice. He took down a bear that way. He took down a lion that way. Don't you dare think that David went over and grabbed a lion by the beard. With that lion not stunned in some way, shape, or form. What do you mean? Don't think David, you read that, David went over and he he slew a lion. You don't just walk up to a lion, grab the lion's bear, and say, here, pussy kitty, kitty, kitty, you know. In my mind's eye, he had already stunned that lion. Oh, he just walked up to that bear. That bear raised up. He said, Mr. Bear, settle down. I need to kill you here. No, no. Don't don't think he didn't use that slingshot on that bear first. Don't think he wasn't good with that slingshot. You say you're speculating. I know I am. Well, boy, I want to tell you, he put that projectile right into that forehead of that giant. And then he went over and took the guy's own sword and chopped his head off. Let me ask you a question. What happened to the armor bear? He was gone, man. What would you do if your nine-foot friend fell? Okay, eight foot six. What would you do if the eight foot six guy fell? Man, I'd be mortified. I think it's time for me to beat feet. Or maybe, I don't know what does it say. But I know David took Goliath's sword and chopped the guy's head off. And when Jonathan saw that, Jonathan's respect for him went so high that when they got back to camp, Jonathan took off his general's outfit, took off his girdle, took off his breastplate, took his own sword, specialized for him, and gave it to David. He wasn't just giving David his his his clothing. He was giving David his position. He was esteeming David extremely high. You know what Johns was thinking? I was up there 40 days and 40 nights and I didn't go down. I was afraid too. And here was this guy. This guy deserves my sword, my girdle, my armament, my general's cape. He deserves to be the captain of the host. He's earned it. And that day their heart was knit together. And was they was out there in the woods being hunted by Jonathan's dad, Jonathan went to him. And notice what he said. Jonathan Saul's son arose, went to David into the wood. Strength his hand in God, which is what a friend does. A friend loveth at all times. A brother is born for adversity. And Jonathan sought him out. A leader in Saul's army sought out David. Strengthen his hands, and notice the words fitly spoken. Watch. And he said unto him, Fear not. Don't be afraid, David. For the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee. Those are good words to hear. And thou shalt be king over Israel. By the way, David had already been anointed. You're going to be king over Israel, and I'll be next unto thee. And that also Saul my father noticed. Did that lift him up? Did that sharpen his countenance? Were those fitly framed words? Was that a friendship risking their own life? What I'm saying to you is if you look at the whole thing where David was being man-hunted. And God didn't let him be taken by Saul. But look, listen to me. David one time cut the skirt off of Saul, and God said, You don't do that. So David was being hunted, but he couldn't hunt back. And Jonathan got out there as a friend and lifted up his fellow. Woe to him that is alone. It's disastrous. Whoa! Whoa! Warning. Show yourself friendly. Why? Because he that showeth himself friendly, they're gonna have friends. Be a friend to somebody else, and God will give you a friend. And God will use someone to uphold you when it's time. Well, nobody was there for me. Now wait a minute, God was there. But don't tell me God didn't send somebody by sooner or later. Isn't it wonderful, the media, now? What do you mean? Well, certain parts of the media is good. Did you ever get a text from somebody where you go, that helps? I needed that. Because words are very important when they come from the right people. When words come from the right people, it's a friendship that's vital. It's important. It's necessary. Therefore, we should not take for granted our friends that are there in the adverse times. Now, Brother Holder's a little bit older, but I want you to know the older you get, the more you appreciate friendships. The more you appreciate friendships. So we're going to use this pulpit mic. Jim, take your time, please. Pastor Holder, thanks for being here. Thanks for whatever your thoughts are. I'll let you come and uh just take your time and I'll come back after you, preacher. We've done this stuff before, and uh, thanks for your words. I heard you say when you said to everybody, you guys were friends to me when we needed it. Thanks, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

When I uh told Pastor that I'd been called to the church in Arizona, I can tell you exactly what he said. If I could do a backflip, I would do it. He was excited for me, and that's a friend. When Pastor called me and asked me to uh just say a word about friendship along with his message tonight, I began to think about it. If there is a subject in the Bible where there is a great amount of material, it is on the subject of friendship. There are all kinds of situations, illustrations about friendship. The Bible tells us that Jesus is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Isaiah tells us that Abraham was a friend of God. Now that's that's big stuff. When God allows you to be his friend and he's your friend, that's the ultimate. For some reason, the Lord laid upon my heart a chapter in the Bible. The book of Romans, I believe, is perhaps the greatest book in the Bible because of its doctrinal position on salvation. But I think it is above that. I think it's the greatest piece of literature in existence. Now that's just my opinion. But the last chapter of the book of Romans, Paul, after all of this great treatise that he has written, pauses and writes the chapter to finalize the book and gives us a list of 35 names. Paul embraced friendship. Read and study it. So many times when we see a list of names in the Bible, we skip over them. Go back and read the 16th chapter of Romans and see what Paul said about 35 people in this chapter. People, and I wrote over this chapter these three words. People are important. But friendship is more than that. The reason I'm standing here tonight is because of six decades of people who have embraced my ministry, who have helped me. I started as a 19-year-old pastor. I was preaching before that, but I was pastoring a church when I was 19. And I'm pastoring a church at 82. So this is my 63rd year. Nonstop. Nonstop. I've never had a pause in the ministry because there is so much to do. But the reason that I've been able to do that is because people have befriended me. People have helped me. People have encouraged me. Of course, most of all, this is my wife. I told you what Pastor said when I told him about going to Arizona. I can't tell you what my wife said. In fact, there were a number of ladies in the church that wouldn't speak to me after that. But they got over it. The greatest friend on the earth that I have is my wife. Don't get married until you know that you have a friend. Your spouse must be your friend. Because there are a lot of things you won't get through without friendship. And so thank God for that and for people who have stood with us and by us and for us. But friendship is very important. The other day I got a call just last week, and this couple that I haven't seen for 25 years, every year we get a call from them and a check from them on Christmas, but we hadn't seen them for 25 years. But a few years ago in Orange County, this couple were helping, and I was helping to start a new church. And I hadn't seen them for years, but they called and came through Benson and said, We want to come to see you. And it was just like we had never missed seeing them because we they became our friends in planting a new church. And those are kind of friends, and I I I have friends all over the country that we have come to love and who love us. And the older you get, the more important friendship is. A lot of things can go by the wayside. But the older you get, the more important friendship becomes. But they will be powerful and important. So start early and develop those friendships that you can care with you because there are times that you will need to pick up the phone and call them and talk to them and share with them and allow them to share with you. We have two children and our son has always had this thing that friendships were very, very important to him, even as a young boy. Friendships were very, very important to him. Today, I think today he's in Atlanta. He flew there from with his job, and he called and said to mom and dad, I'm gonna drive a couple hundred miles and I'm gonna visit this family. And this family was in our church in Ohio. They became great friends. They became one of those families who came in soon after we took the church and became a leader. And our son said, I'm gonna drive 200 miles to see these people because he considered them a great friend to the family. And when I had surgery, he had contacts all over the country that we didn't even know about. And he had developed these friends that we'd have through the years, and he had held to them. So tonight, as Pastor said, you can't do it by yourself. You can't do it by yourself. And just remember that the older that you get, learn to embrace those and bring those friends along with you. There's something about the older you get, the less important some of the incidentals in the lives of other people are. And you can't do it by yourself. Paul learned that. And you know, you know who they are. And the couple is Priscilla and Aquila. You know where he met them making tents. It wasn't at a revival meeting, it was at both of them were tent makers. So we developed friends at different places at different times. But they were a couple that became very dear to Paul and to his ministry. We never know. I remember Pastor and our friend from Australia, how they met and what friends they have become through the years. And tonight, maybe we just need to go home and think about those friends. And maybe there's some work we need to do with those friends. Maybe there's some calls we need to make. Maybe there's somebody we need to encourage that we call our friend. They may be waiting for a call from you. They may be expecting a call from you. Remember, we can't do it by ourselves.

SPEAKER_03 41:38

Thank you, Rob.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Jim.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

Don't leave. Whatever you do, don't leave. Let's bow our heads for a moment. Don't, excuse me, don't leave. Please don't. If you're in here tonight, you've not yet received Christ as Savior. Very simply. There's a heaven and there's a hell. The key is what did you do with what Jesus did on the cross? He came, he died, he sacrificed himself, and then he raised himself from the dead. He's alive right now. And if you've not received Christ asking for the forgiveness of sin, tonight could be the very night where that friendship with our Lord becomes real.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California. To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619-461-5561.