Friends Together

Intro

Importance: We get our friends right, the right friends set us up for success in every area of life. The opposite is true = it can also set us up for more pain than I can describe.

Key thought over the next few weeks....

SHOW ME YOUR FRIENDS, AND I’LL SHOW YOU YOUR FUTURE.

Proverbs 13:20 NCV

Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.

SHOW ME YOUR FRIENDS, AND I’LL SHOW YOU YOUR FUTURE.

Hang out with people better than you - marriage / finances / wiser / smarter / leadership / spiritual - you will rise up. Hang out with worse, you will fail.

My life = God using right people to lead me to right mindset and actions! Likewise, I rarely got into trouble alone.

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

LIST YOUR THREE CLOSEST FRIENDS (Ride or Die - 2am calls)

LIST YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS

1) ___________________

2) ___________________

3) ___________________

Scientific principle: YOU ARE THE AVERAGE OF YOUR FIVE CLOSET FRIENDS

The question is are you hanging around the right people? Consider every area of your life!

FRIENDSHIP DEFINED

Proverbs 17:17 ESV

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

A friend is someone you may or may not know well who accepts your friend request on Facebook. This person is born to like and comment on your posts to make you feel good about yourself. FBV

A friend is someone you may or may not know well who accepts your friend request on Facebook. This person is born to like and comment on your posts to make you feel good about yourself. BOOK OF D

Proverbs 17:17 NCV

A friend loves you all the time, and a brother helps in time of trouble.

“loves all the time” / “helps in troubled times” - Loves you enough to challenge you!

American Sociological Review, the average American today only has two close friends. Was six, 25 years ago. 1/3 of Americans don’t have one - they are lonely.

average

American today only has two close friends

FRIENDSHIPS DECLINED

WHY ARE FRIENDSHIPS DECLINING?

1) INCREASING WORK HOURS.

2) RISING DIVORCE RATES.

3) EXPLOSION OF SOCIAL MEDIA. “Look at my oatmeal”, lol

REDISCOVERING THE LOST ART OF FRIENDSHIP

1. BE PRESENT.

Hebrews 10:24–25 The Message

Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Heb 10:24-25

I will develop my friendships face to face and not thumbs to thumbs.

“inventive” = motivate to acts of loving and helping

“worshipping together”= is the best way to connect at a deeper level

“spur each other on”

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. NLT

2. GET OPEN.

James 5:16 NIV

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Confess

“to each other” = these means keep it 100!

Stop hiding yourself - sin is part of our lives.

Note: confess and pray are together / one should never happen without the other......

I’M OPEN WITH THOSE WHO WILL PRAY AND NOT POST! C

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed... NLT