Preached in Everett, Washington (7-26-09)

I would be very surprised if there is someone here today that does not have a friend that’s not a Christian.  When we live in this world we are going to have friends that are not Christians, if we just kept to ourselves our whole life the gospel would never spread. The key is that we have to be the ones that have the influence on them, but unfortunately so many times this is not the case.

I.       Good friendship

a.    David and Jonathan

                                                     i.     Loyalty (I Sam. 18:1-4)

                                                    ii.     Sacrifice (I Sam. 20:1-17, 30-42) – Jonathan sacrificed his place as king of Israel and his relationship with his father for David (if he had let Saul kill David than Jonathan would’ve have become king)

                                                   iii.     Honor (2 Sam. 9)

                                                iv.     Common bonds – both David and Jonathan showed tremendous faith in God at times in their life (Jonathan’s victory over the Philistines in chapter 14)

II.     Having an influence

a.    Good

                                                     i.     Jesus

1.     Think about all the times that the people Jesus was with could have dragged him down. Our salvation depended upon the fact that He influenced people and not the other way around

2.     Our salvation still depends upon us influencing people to good, and there salvation does too

                                                    ii.     Friends can influence us toward good (Philip bringing Nathanael) (John 1:43-51).

b.    Bad

                                                     i.     Rehoboam – let his “friends” influence his kingly decisions (I Kings 12:1-15)

1.     This can easily happen to younger people, it’s natural for us to want to be accepted by our peers and usually what goes along with this is disregarding whatever advice older people may give

2.     Rehoboam must have felt loyalty towards his younger friends (he had grown up with them in vs. 10)

3.     We need to use good judgment when getting advice on important matters, and always ask God (like Solomon) and not as his son Rehoboam

4.     Rehoboam was smart in that he got advice from multiple sources, he just listened to the wrong advice

                                                    ii.     Peter seems to have influenced Barnabus in a very bad way away from God’s will (Galatians 2:11-21).

III.    Advice from worldly friends is not given with the best intentions on God

a.    Even if our friends give good advice, the advice is not given with God as the focus (ex. “do what you think is right”)

b.    We should always be wary of advice given to us that lacks God as the focal point

c.    We need to always consult God regardless of who we take advice from

                                                     i.     The most dangerous situation is when brethren lead others away

IV.  Sometimes we have to go alone (Paul)(2 Tim. 4:16-18)

a.    Noah and his family – think about all the friends (the whole world at the time) that they lost and about the discouragement that they must have felt to know that they were the only ones to be saved.

b.    Jesus in the garden and on the cross (Mark 14:48-52)

                                                     i.     Jesus KNEW this was going to happen and yet He was willing to have this happen because He also knew that the reward was greater than the loneliness

c.    Just because no one around them believed did not mean that they needed to give up their faith as well