The Marks of a Good Friend - Pastor Luke Harrison

You're listening to a message preached at Front Range Baptist Church. It is our prayer that this message will be a help and an encouragement to you in your spiritual walk. So, no, it's kind of, I think it's kind of like buckies, you know, how every buckies they build is like, this is the biggest and the best until the next one gets built. So, you know, John was pastor's favorite for about a month before I got here. Now I'm pastor's favorite. So, whenever the next guy shows up, I guess I'm chopped liver too. So I'll enjoy my time at the top or the bottom while I have it. Just a couple things real quick before we jump in. We're going to obviously have prayer at the end of the service. But if you would, there is a family, the Maldives family. And some of you might know them, I might recognize that name. Stephen Maldives is a missionary that this church supports. He was in Australia for a long time and now is the director of Southeast Asia with BIMI. But his sister, Jeanette, they have a 27-year-old daughter who had just some thyroid issues going on for a while and then got COVID and some other things that happened. Had heart failure and was in line for a transplant and she ended up passing away today. So if you would just pray for the Maldives family, I know that would mean a lot to them. So we'll remember them at the end of the night in prayer. And then also a couple ministry opportunities I want to bring to you. I know we spoke about kids' hope a few weeks ago in church on sunny mornings. If you've been thinking about that and been on the fence and haven't made up your mind about that yet, let me just encourage you at least seek more information or if you want to go for it, go for it. You can let me know. You can talk to Kathy Parker if you see her on Sunday, call the church office, but we're still in need of some mentors and prayer partners for that program. So if you'd be interested, let me know. We also still need help on Wednesday nights in nursery if you'd like to get on a rotation for that. That would be great. All right. We're going to jump into our study tonight and it's a topic that I don't think it's spoken on a whole lot in church, but it's one that I think we should all be familiar with. Before we get into that, we're going to do something a little different, have a little bit of fun. All right. And no one is exempt. We're requiring 100% participation, all right. You will be singled out if you do not participate. All right. We're going to do. You've got to find somebody close to you and you know, if it's your spouse, fine, but we'd prefer that it not be. And I want you to tell them about your childhood best friend. Does anybody remember your childhood best friend? Raise your hand if you remember your childhood best friend. Man, there's just something. And maybe like in the moment, sometimes you loved him, sometimes you hated him, but looking back, it's like, you know, that was, he was my best friend. So here's what we're going to do. Take just a couple minutes. And I want you to take turns telling somebody close to you who your best friend was, the kid, their name, and really what connected you to them, what made them your best friend. All right. So let's take a couple minutes and do that. Ready? Go. [laughter] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] All right, has everybody had a chance to share about their best friend? Does anybody want more time? Okay. Well, great. So the reason for that little exercise is twofold. One, I got all your complaints, and I'm sorry I didn't go long enough last time. So I'm trying to, I'm trying to stall. I'm going to try to make it to 35 minutes of speaking tonight. So, but no, but the real reason is I want to get us thinking about, you know, what is a friend to us, or what values do we look for in a true friend? Does anybody say, man, I had a good one, the partner that the person I spoke to, they had a really good story about their best friend. Anybody want to nominate the person that talked to them? No, man, you guys are too nice, nobody's calling anybody out. Anybody want to share about their own best friend with everybody? No takers? Okay. We got one, all right? Loyal. Loyal, okay. Your best friend was loyal. Very good. Anybody else? Yep. I just want to share it with you. Okay. I think it was because the friend actually ended up having to make a Christian. He was like, better than playing a hero. Yeah? So, she tricked you, so, so, deception is a good mark between her, no. But she introduced you to Jesus, so that is a great friend. Anybody else? Yes, with stallings. Okay. Yep. Told you what you needed to hear. That's good. I'll say this, is it, and maybe it's just life, but for some reason it seems like those really close friendships, and that just like this is my buddy, you know, that we all, seems like almost all of us had as children, when we get older and we get into adulthood, we don't, we don't really have those friends. Now of course you have your, you know, your spouse and, you know, your spouse is your best friend. I understand that in your kids. And maybe it's just, maybe it's just life that gets in the way. Maybe it's schedules or routines. But I think part of it might be is we've, we've gotten wise to this whole friend thing. We know that it's going to cost us something, right? Being a true friend, like there's, being acquaintances, like the people you pass at church and like, hey, you know, that guy you always talk to, but you've never had him over to your house, so you never really spent any time getting to know him. And so we kind of have these really shallow, just, you know, interactional kind of relationships as opposed to these, you know, these core friendships that we had growing up. So maybe we know too much about what the cost of friendship might be. Maybe we're too aware of the risk of loss or the risk of feeling betrayal at some point. Or maybe just the inconvenience because a friend, I mean, if you're going to be a true fan, you're going to have to put them before yourself. And, and maybe we don't think of it on that level, but underneath all of this, that might be why. But we're not going to really talk about that. We're going to focus on, not just, you know, our need for friends, because I think we do need friends, but a focus on being a true friend. Because if a man wants friends, he must first show himself friendly, all right, and let me just tell you, as somebody who's new to the church, this is a friendly church, that people have been so kind to us. I mean, when you walk through the door, if you don't smile back at Sam and create a steel, you're the problem, all right, all right, it's you, all right, it's not us. But no, we're a friendly church. Why do we need friends? Proverbs 17, 17 says, "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." So friends are constants in our life who offer support and companionship through the good and bad times. Anybody want that? Yeah, support companionship through good and bad. Proverbs 27, 6 and 9, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Verse 9 says, "Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." In other words, friends, tell us what we need to hear, all right, so we need somebody in our life that's going to do that. Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens at the countenance of his friend. They make us more like Christ. Ecclesiastes 49 and 10, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falls, for he hath not another to help him up." I thought about this a lot, and we went hiking not too long ago. I've never hiked in my life, okay, and I moved here from Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the elevation is a staggering 700 feet, okay, all right, so I move up here, and then we're like, you know, I was talking to Pastor, you know, we need just some like team building time, you know, we need some, we need to go play golf, or we need to go, you know, throw axes or something. And anybody ever been axe throwing? It's fun. If you haven't done it, you should. All right, maybe go to a gun range, I don't know, and he's like, that's a perfect idea. We're going to hike horse tooth rock, I was like, that's not what I was going for, but I brought my boost oxygen can with me, don't laugh, don't laugh, I brought my boost oxygen, I made it. But anyway, so we had a good time there, and I was glad that someone else was there, because I'm like, if I fall over on this thing, somebody's going to need to be there to pick me up. But I think we need friends, and when we look in the Bible for a good example of a friend, who is it that comes to mind, okay, we got a lot of examples. For me, it's David and Jonathan, I don't know if any of you guys were thinking that, but I always go back to David and Jonathan, and in my mind, I go back to a video, a movie, some Bible movie that my parents had in the house when I was a kid, it was about David and Jonathan, I always remember, Saul just being so angry and wanting to kill David and Jonathan, protecting him, and so when I think of Jonathan, David, I think of good friends. But before we jump into that, who is Jonathan? All right, so we know he's the son of Saul, but do we know anything about him? All right, so Jonathan, actually, if you look, and you don't have to right now, but if you look in 1 Samuel, chapter 13, verses 1 through 4, and chapter 14, 1 through 16, you'll find out that Jonathan was actually an incredible warrior. He was a man of war, he was a general and Saul's army, and pretty much on his own was defeating huge groups of Philistines. I mean, he was a big time warrior, although even though he was powerful and mighty, he was very humble. He was a humble man. There's one story where it talks about he had killed an entire garrison of Philistines basically on his own, and then word got out that Saul had killed an entire garrison of Philistines, his dad, and he didn't say a word about it. He let somebody else get the credit, so he was a humble guy, but then he was also a man of faith. He had this one encounter where he took just one person with him, and they're creeping up on the enemy camp, and he says, all right, God has told me that he wants us to have victory here in this battle. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to call down to this guy, and if he says, "We'll come up to you," then we're getting out of here, but if he says, "Why don't you come down to us?" Then God's delivered them into our hands, and he calls down to him, the guy says, "Hey, come down to us," and he says, "And we will show you a thing." I don't know what that means, so they're going to show him a thing or two, and so he heads down there, and the opposite happens, he shows them a thing, and they turn on each other, and they end up running, and it's crazy from there on, there's all these stories of battle that Jonathan is involved in, but that is how we're introduced to him. He is a humble, man of faith who is a valiant warrior, but he's also, as we're going to see tonight, a true friend, turned to 1 Samuel, chapter 18, 1 Samuel, chapter 18, just the first five verses here of chapter 18, and it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking into Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul, and Saul took him that day, and when let him go no more home to his father's house, then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul, and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David, and his garments even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle, and David went out, whether so ever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely, and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servant. So what we're going to look at tonight is ten marks of a true friend, and what I would encourage you to do is maybe you don't have that friend right now in your life, maybe there was a time where you did have that friend, and for some reason there is that awkward air between you right now. I would encourage all of us to examine ourselves as we look through these marks of a true friend, and ask, am I being a true friend, because the temptation is when we hear about what a true friend should be, we think, yeah, that's right, they should do that. And my encouragement is for us to be more introspective tonight. What am I doing when it comes to being a friend to others? So verse number three says, then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. Mark number one of a true friend is that true friends are committed to each other. I remember I had a friend, and I'm sure you did too, where when I'd show up to school, I really wasn't sure if they were going to be my friend that day or not. And maybe if you have kids in school, you know that, you know they come on, they're all upset, so and so was mean to me, and it's just, it's tough when you think they're your friend and then they're not, and there's this back and forth, and you don't really know how they're feeling on a day-to-day basis. But here we see that Jonathan, he makes a covenant, he makes a promise. In other words, he's saying, I am your friend, I will be your friend, and nothing is going to come between us. And back then, making a covenant was a big deal. Now we make promises all the time. We make pinkie promises, we've got a funny story about that, that I won't tell right now, you can ask me later, about Elliot. But we make promises and we break them all the time, but man, in this day and age, when they made a covenant, I mean their word was everything, and so this friend Jonathan was committed to David in verse number three, then look at verse number four, and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. And I want to make a specific mention of his bow, what's the significance of his bow? Jonathan was a very skilled archer, so not only was he a man of war, he was very skilled with the bow and arrow. And that comes into play a little later in the story, if you remember. That was one of the ways that he warned David that Saul was after him to kill him. He used his bow, and he said, if I tell the guy that the arrows have, he sends his servant downrange first, and everything I know about shooting anything is, nobody goes downrange, but he says, hey, go down there, and I'm going to shoot some arrows, I'm not doing that. But he does, the kid goes down there, and he told David if the arrows, if I land the arrows next to the kid, then you can, everything's safe, you can come, but if I shoot him over his head, then don't come in and say, Saul's going to take you out. So I would make special mention of the bow there, and that'll come back up later in the lesson. But he takes everything off and gives this to him, he's a giving person towards David in this covenant. And so friends put the other before self. And that's one of the biggest costs of any relationship, is when I make that commitment to this other person, I'm going to have to put them before myself, put their comfort before my own cheer on, their successes, mourn with them in their failures, and put myself in their shoes. Alright, so Jonathan certainly does that in this covenant with David, and then we move on to verse number five, and David went out with us, so ever, Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely, and Saul sent him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. So if David was accepted as being the ruler over the military, basically for Saul, by all people, who does that include? Jonathan. Well hold on a second, Jonathan is his son, he's Saul's son, and not only is he Saul's son, he is a valiant warrior who has proven himself time and time again. My dad picked this kid over me, might have been some jealousy there, but there's no indication for me there, I'm saying there might have been jealousy there. But for Jonathan, there's no indication that he holds anything against David for being loved by Saul at that time and trusted by Saul, so friends want to see the other succeed. And this is tough because you might be on a similar path with a friend, and for some reason, their path starts going up at the same time your path starts going down. We had some friends at one point where our highs and their lows, and their highs and our lows, were kind of on the same track, where we weren't up together or down together, and man that is tough navigating that when you're on a high, and a close friend is on a low, and then vice versa, when they're on a high and you're on a low, celebrating these great things with them when you and your own personal life are devastated. But Jonathan right here shows an example, a great example of a true friend who wants to see the other succeed and doesn't get jealous in those situations. Let's fast forward in the story here to chapter number 19, so flip over to chapter number 19, and look at verse number one and two, Saul spakes to Jonathan his son and all his servants that they should kill David, wow, that changed quickly. Verse number two, but Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David and Jonathan told David saying, Saul, my father, seeketh to kill thee. Now therefore I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning and abide in a secret place and hide thyself. So the fourth mark here of a true friend is friends warn the other of danger. This kind of plays into what we were saying earlier about a friend telling you what you need to hear. How many of you guys have ever been in a situation where you've seen a pattern developing in a friend's life? You've seen their life taking a direction and you know it's not going to end well. You can just maybe by knowledge of scripture or by personal experience or whatever it is, you know that where they're heading, it's rough water. And a friend, a true friend, when they see that in their friend's life will warn them of the danger. It's a difficult conversation to have because it's like, well who are you? You're worried about their reaction. They might say, well who are you? You think you're better than me or you're just, you know, high and mighty or holier than now, but you have to speak the truth to them in love. If I love you, I tell you the truth. It's not loving to withhold what you know from somebody. If you see danger up ahead, obviously, you know the easy example is if you get to a bridge that's out and you turn around and you're driving the other way and you see your best friend driving in a car towards the bridge at 100 miles an hour, you're going to try to stop him because you know the danger is ahead. All right, then look, verse, verse number four, the same chapter, chapter number 19. Jonathan spaked good of David unto Saul his father and said unto him, let not the kings sin against his servant against David because he have not sinned against thee. And because his works have been to thee word, very good. Whatever he did put his life in his hand and slew the Philistine, the Lord brought a great salvation for all Israel, thou sawest it and didst rejoice, wherefore, then wilt thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a cause. So Jonathan's just reminding Saul, he's like, hey, it wasn't so long ago where we were facing this Philistine giant who was out here mocking our God and the nation. Nobody want to go out to fight him and David slew him and you were excited about it. Don't you remember that? Not that long ago. And so what he's trying to do is de-escalate the situation and get Saul back in his right mind and protect his friend. But my fifth Mark here of a true friend is friends seek peace and reconciliation. You know, there's a temptation when two people you know are at each other's throats for something is to like try to go to one side and get all the juice, right? Like, hear all the, you know, what's going on? Like, what did they, did they really say that? I can't believe that. And then you go over to the other side and you're like, you would not believe what they just said about you. And you just, you know, you're, you kind of, some people feed off of that conflict and they enjoy the fight, but a true friend will do what they can to seek, to pursue peace and reconciliation. Be a, but blessed are the peacemakers, all right? The Bible says in Matthew, bring people together where there is conflict. And then chapter number 20 will move forward in the story here, chapter number 20. And David fled from Nioh in Rema and came and said before Jonathan, what have I done? What is my iniquity and what is my sin before thy father that he seeketh my life? And he said unto him, God forbid thou shalt not die, behold, my father will do nothing either greater, small, but that he will show at me. And why should my father hide this thing for me? It is not so. And David swear more over and said, thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes. And he sayeth, let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly is the Lord liiveth, and as thy soul liiveth, there is but a step between me and death. Then said Jonathan unto David, whatsoever thy soul desireeth, I will even do it for thee. And so friends believe and side with the truth. Jonathan is thinking to himself, my dad, I'm his right, hey man, Saul is not going to do anything that he doesn't tell me about. And David says, I'm telling you, there's a step between me and death, and he's coming after me. And Jonathan had a decision to make, do I side with what I think I know, or with what David is telling me is the situation. And Jonathan recognizes the truth. He believes it and he sides with the truth, even though siding with David means that he is now turning against his own father. But he's made a covenant. He's made a commitment to this friend, and he's going to keep it. Friends believe and side with the truth. And then at the end of this chapter, chapter number 20, if you look at verses 41 and 42, all right, we see things kind of take a turn here, verse number 41, and as soon as this is right after Jonathan has warned David that Saul is indeed going to kill him, and so David is going to flee. As soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times, and they kissed one another and wept one with another until David exceeded. And Jonathan said to David, go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, the Lord be between me and between my seed and thy seed forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into that city. So here's a point in David's life and Jonathan's life where they can no longer be in the same place. It's no longer tenable for David to be anywhere around Saul, and so he has to leave and Jonathan allows him to, because it's what's best for him, it's an effort to protect him. And so sometimes, friends take different paths, and that's okay. It's tough. I know that anybody that's moved a long ways away from where they were knows that that's one of the hardest things is leaving those friends behind, and you feel like you've done something wrong, or like, man, can I just bring you with me? You know, I think that's the feeling we had when we came here is like, can I just bring these people with me? And we've been trying to sell all our friends on how beautiful Northern Colorado is, and we've got to get them out here before November. Because if they come in, they're not coming at all. From what I hear, I haven't endured a winner yet, but sometimes friends take different paths, and that's okay, and in this case, David and Jonathan certainly did. And so when a friendship comes to an end for whatever reason, as long as your heart and mind is clear that you've done nothing wrong, life is just full of seasons. There are different times in your life, different stages in your life where God brings people into and out of your life, and that's just the way it is. And we have to be okay with that, and we can't allow that. I can't allow the thought of this person's not going to be my friend forever to keep us from becoming a friend or building that relationship. Chapter number 23, we're moving right along here, we've just got a few more marks here of a true friend. Chapter number 23, verses number 15 through 18. And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of ziff in a wood, and Jonathan's son arose and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said unto him, "Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee, and that also saw my father knoweth, and they too made a covenant before the Lord, and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house." And so here after some time they've come back together, and Jonathan shows us that a friend or friends encourage each other in the Lord. Jonathan knew that David's got to be tired at this point, he's been on the run, he's living a pretty rough life. This is not something that anybody would want to experience. And Jonathan sees his friend struggling and takes an opportunity to encourage him, and not just encourage him, but to encourage him in the Lord. I think it kind of comes natural to us to kind of have that hate cheer up, conversation with friends, but not very often do we turn that to a spiritual conversation, and begin to talk about what God might be trying to do in life, or just sharing what God's doing in yours, and try to encourage them in the Lord. It says that Jonathan encouraged him or strengthened his hand in God. And then the way he does that is he repeats a promise to David, that God had made to David through Samuel, right? Samuel had anointed David to be king over Israel a long time ago, and by now he's thinking this promise is not coming true. And Jonathan, the rightful heir to the throne, says God made you a promise, and he's going to keep it. And so that's one of the best things we can do for a friend when we see them struggling with discouragement is to encourage them in the Lord and remind them of the promises that God has made to them. And then let's jump forward to 2nd Samuel, just a few pages over, 2nd Samuel, we've just got two more here. 2nd Samuel, chapter number 1, 2nd Samuel, chapter number 1, verses 17 and 18. And when we come to David in this verse, he has just gotten word that Saul is dead and not only is Saul dead, but Saul's son Jonathan, David's best friend has died. But devastating day in the life of David, because if you look through his life, he didn't have many friends. He had one good one, and he finds out that Jonathan has died. And I go back to when Jonathan, just a few chapters back, has encouraged David, strengthen his hand in God and says, you will be king of Israel. And what does he say after that? And I will be at your side. And man, no doubt, he's looking forward to that day. And in his mind, he's not going to be by my side. My friend is gone. And man, Jonathan, because of the depth of the relationship, there was a depth in the grief that David felt, but there was also a long-lasting impact. And so, Mark number 9 of a true friend, his friends make a lasting impact, verses 17 and 18, saying, David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. He says, also, he bade them teach the children of Judah, the use of the bow. He hold it as written in the book of Jasher. And so in his sorrow and in a demonstration of the impact, the lasting impact that Jonathan has had in his life, he says, teach the kids how to use a bow. Maybe he was just, teach the warriors how to use a bow. Maybe he's just looking for some way to honor his friend, but this bow was something that marked Jonathan's life. It was a symbol that when, I'm sure, every time David saw a bow and arrow, he thought of Jonathan. And at this time, the bow was not a very common weapon of war. It was relatively new, so he, no doubt every time he saw that, he thought of his friend. And others will say that in translating this, they believe it might have been not the use of the bow, but a song called the bow that was written about Jonathan. And he wanted to teach them this song about Jonathan, this folk song that had been written about his friend. And either way, friends make a lasting impact in our lives. And then lastly, number 10, we're going to look at 2nd Samuel chapter number 9. We're not going to read the whole chapter, but I'll tell you basically what is in it. David is now king. And if you think back to the covenant that he originally made with Jonathan, there was a promise that there would be love between my seed and your seed said forever. Now naturally in a monarchy, there would be a situation where if somebody came in and conquered a land, or if there was a new lineage that stepped in to power in a land, that the descendants of the previous person in power were essentially wiped out. They were killed or they were exiled, because the king could not afford a threat to his power. But David keeps his promise in verse number 9. David said, verse number 1, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" And there was of the house of Saul a servant, whose name was Ziba, and when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, "Arkthal Ziba." And he said, "I servant is he, and the king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" Ziba said unto the king, "Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet." And the king said unto him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said unto the king, "Behold, he is in the house of Makar, the son of Amiel in Lodabar." And so David is asking, "Is there anybody left from Saul's house?" And yeah, I think one of his servants, his old servants is here, you should ask Ziba. Ziba, anybody left in Saul's house? And I don't know what Ziba's relationship was with Jonathan or Jonathan's son, but he's probably thinking, "Oh, no, this is not good." But he can't disobey an order from the king, so he calls for the son of Jonathan to come. And no doubt, when the son of Jonathan comes in, Jonathan's son, this is a prince, essentially. He's the son of the son of the previous king. He's in an obscure place. No people don't know where he is. He'd never met David, apparently. And so he gets where the king's called for you. He's like, "This is it, this is it." And he's already had a pretty rough life, says he was lame on both feet. And so he gets the call, and all right, here we go. And he shows up at the palace, all right. And it says, "Now when the fibisheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell on his face and did reverence." No doubt, hoping that this king would be merciful to him. And David said, "Mafibisheth." And he answered, "Behold thy servant. I'll do anything. What do you need me to do?" David said to him, "Fear not. Take it easy." All right. For I will surely show the kindness for Jonathan, thy father's sake, and will restore the all the land of Saul thy father. And now shall he bread at my table continually. Man, David just doesn't just keep his promise. He goes above and beyond. He shows incredible kindness to this young man who's lived in fear, who's lived in obscurity, lame on both feet. And he says, "Because of your dad, because of who's you are, not only are you not my enemy, you now have a seat at my table continually." And so yes, friends, keep their promise. But what I love about this story about Mafibisheth is that we are all Mafibisheth. We are all children, born children of the enemy, but because of who we belong to in Christ, when we've accepted salvation, we then have a seat at the table, at the King's table continually. And what a great reminder of what Christ has done for us, but also we see David keeping his promise all the way to the end. For Jonathan's sake, a weak and powerless man, who in those days would have been killed for being a descendant of a previous King, was given a permanent seat at the King's table. So I just encourage us, yes, being encouraged in that, that we've been offered a seat at the King's table. And if you have not taken God up on that, you're missing out, and we can't encourage you enough to do that. Talk to anybody here tonight. We'd be happy to point you in that direction. But as we think about it, what a true friend is, let's all just take personal inventory. Am I being that friend? Am I willing to be that friend? Do I have a strained relationship with a former friend that needs to be reconciled? And I think that the Bible says in John 1335, that this is how all men will know that you're my disciples. If you have love, one to another. And what better way to demonstrate love on a daily basis than just being a true friend?