Is that going to stay there? Okay. Welcome to our second session. Let's see if I can... That's great. Okay, good morning and welcome to our second session entitled, Iron that Sharpens, Imitating Christ in Our Daily Friendships. Last night we talked about the hallmarks of friendship we enjoy with Jesus. Today we'll see how those can be, by extension, characteristics of our daily friendships with one another. If I could summarize a kind of working definition of friendship based on the hallmarks we looked at last night, these would be them. I have two really sweet, dear friends here, so welcome, Nubia and Peggy. And this is in your folder. Here is what that working definition would sound like. As a matter of faithful obedience, a friend calls and comes to you, presence to presence, to share with you, reminding you who and whose you are, so that you are encouraged to be more than you are, to know more than you know, and to live beyond yourself, to bear fruit that remains, thereby seeking and savoring together the glory of God. I hope you feel like that was a pretty good summary of those seven hallmarks. And I did want to provide that for you so it's there. Hopefully, when I read that, you were thinking, yes, that was a very good summary of the benefits we received from Jesus. And I will stress today a couple of times how important it is that we keep that in mind. Because it is only our union with him that enables us to live out this faithful friendship with one another. This is the very encouraging news of Ephesians 6.10 and Ephesians 2.13. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. God is at work in us, and all the more as we avail ourselves to the work of the spirit in us. We don't conjure it up ourselves. We cooperate with the spirit of Christ in us, the hope of glory, and trust for his strength to be made known through us. So I'm gonna say it one more time to start. We can't do it on our own, because we will die under that kind of weight. We aren't meant to be a redeemer. We're meant to let the life of the redeemer live through us. That's the greatness of the biblical teaching that tells us we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 13, 14. And that, in fact, we have. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, Galatians 3.27. And that is also how we remind ourselves that we are not pursuing a life of faithful friendship to earn anything from God or others. We live out a life of friendship because we already have everything. In Christ, it has all been given to us. Back to that definition I began with. There are, at least to my way of thinking, three summary characteristics. within that definition that apply to everyday friendship and that we'll look at in detail today. The first is company. Friends are company. They are the company we keep. And the characteristic of that company is that iron sharpens iron. Secondly, friends are counselors. And the characteristic of that is that we offer earnest counsel. Finally, friends are collaborators. They stick closer than brothers. And the characteristic of that collaboration is that a friend loves at all times. So let's start with the first characteristic, which is that friends are the company we keep. A primary characteristic of heaven is that we will know as we are known. That is what 1 Corinthians 13, 12 tells us. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully. even as I have been fully known. Well, keeping company with our friends helps us to know as we are known. C.S. Lewis described the beginning of friendship as compared to mere companionship this way. Friendship arises when two or more companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste, which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure. Therefore, the typical expression of opening friendship would be something like, what? You too? I thought I was the only one. In other words, we recognize something familiar in another person. There's an affinity or a kinship. We share something in common. It's the what? You too? And are drawn to one another because of it. That commonality typically stimulates affection, which makes sense, right? We usually like the people we're friends with. C.S. Lewis goes on to say, it is when two such persons discover one another, it is then that friendship is born. And instantly, they stand together in an immense solitude. And that, as a side note, that remark makes me realize that when you're with your really good friends, you don't have to speak a word, and yet you're totally content and comfortable. Because that thing, that commonality that you share, exists even without words. But to be in the company of our friends, whether speaking or silent, is to be presence to presence. And you'll remember that was one of the key hallmarks that I shared last night of our friendship with Christ. Presence to presence models the withness of the Lord's nearness to us. I believe that we are most present with each other when we're face to face. I think that's why the translation for presence is face. Face-to-face compels us to be attentive, engaging, and really listen to one another. You can't read your email and surf the web when you're face-to-face. You can do that when you're on the phone. Maybe I'm the only one, but... I know what that's like, when you realize all of a sudden, hmm, maybe we're not quite as attentive to each other here as we ought to be. Compare that to the difference it makes when you are genuinely in the presence of another person. And then remember that Christ himself is that near to you, wooing you to encounter him, presence to presence. Everyday friendship can be infused with that. It is in each other's company that we can honestly and from the heart share our day and our experiences. That is when we as friends know and are known, but also love and minister to each other in the highlights and the lowlights and the joys and the griefs and the victories and the defeats. In so meeting together, we come without duty or obligation. but out of a desire that wishes well for someone, out of a selfless desire that is free of any kind of posturing or any kind of entitlement. C.S. Lewis calls this the kingliness of friendship, a phrase that I absolutely love because he says, we meet together like sovereign princes on neutral ground. Beautifully, he goes on to say that these meetings of friendship have no survival value in and of themselves, Rather, they are what give value to survival. As another writer I read said, we do not live well without friendship. Since presence to presence means we keep company with our friends, then like Jesus, someone needs to initiate that fellowship. One of my favorite passages that illustrates this is in John 1, 45 through 46, when Philip goes to look for Nathanael and says to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. We live out this characteristic towards our friends by saying similar. There's something I need to share with you. It's this way, and I want you to come with me. If you know you're headed in the direction of the Lord, then call to your friends so they can go too. Listen, if you're following closely after Christ, I want a chance to see what you're seeing and hear what you're hearing. So call out to others and say, come and see. I think it's fair to say that enjoying the sights of the kingdom together exponentially increases them and makes us and our friends a force to be reckoned with. Listen to C.S. Lewis point out this connection. For every soul seeing him, the Lord, in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying holy, holy, holy to one another. The more we thus share the heavenly bread between us, the more we shall all have. I went back to read that passage because I'd always just assumed that they were crying holy, holy, holy to the Lord. But there was in Isaiah 6, 3, and one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. They call to one another of the holiness of the Lord. I think that's really meaningful for us as we think about our interactions with one another. Sharing with your friends out of your relationship with the Lord, speaking to her of his work and goodness over your life, multiplies the very bread of life in your midst. Amplifying, if you will, the nourishment and sustenance we all receive. It's important that the company we keep be actively concerned with the holiness of the Lord, because the Bible tells us that the company we keep influences our identities. Proverbs 13.20 says, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. First Corinthians 15.33 says, do not be deceived, bad company ruins good morals. On the upside of this, as friends who imitate Christ, we help each other discover our best and truest identities by reminding each other who we are in Christ. We do this by declaring to each other who it is God says we are based on his word. We proclaim that we are no longer slaves, but that we've been elevated to a more privileged position, thereby bringing the words of life. Let me give you a personal example. I have a friend named Jill. And about 20 years ago, I had a profound conversation with her. She was my next door neighbor and a lovely Christian woman. And I was telling her how so often in life and in the church, I felt like the biggest troublemaker. Because I felt like the one who saw what was really going on. I think probably you've been there when you've seen things go on in the church, and you think, well, why am I the one who has to be able to see this? Wouldn't life be so much better if I just didn't see that? And so I was really pouring out my heart to her, telling her how hard it was to always feel like the troublemaker, or was I just a big, fat Pharisee, and that was my problem. And as she listened to me, knowing me and knowing that my younger self was a little bit more expressive and shoot from the hip and tell it like it is. So she really knew who I was. And after I finished talking, she said, she said, Tricia, you're not a troublemaker. You're not a Pharisee. She said, God has gifted you to be able to see things and to connect dots and to make sense of what you see, to see beyond just the surface thing. And that's a gift, not a curse. Who he made you to be is important in the kingdom. She spoke those words of life to me, delivering me from the bondage of self-condemnation and wishing it away and fearing it. So much of my life, And pretty much all of my ministry has been based on that encounter with one good friend who was willing to say, you're no longer a slave. You have a new identity. And it's important in the economy of the church and in the kingdom of Christ. She went on to remind me of some simple truths from scripture about priests who feel deeply about kingdom life and prophets who can do no other than seek God's word to make sense of life and of being a truth teller. She spoke of things I had not connected for myself. And by speaking to me of true identity, she helped me to make sure that I did not stay enslaved to a lesser thing. That is what we are called to do for each other as we spend time in each other's presence. We discover how God has shaped us to live the abundant life for the cause of Christ. Importantly, when a sister is elevated, either by being set free or discovering her true identity or sharpened for a new purpose, that is to the glory of Christ as Jesus is made more real to her. As I shared last night, I do believe that Jesus wants us to see his glory. And maybe there's something to following him in a small group of three, like the three who went up the Mount of Transfiguration, that brings us to places, those high mountains, where we unexpectedly but undoubtedly behold his glorious presence among us. And when God allows us to glimpse his glory in those moments, let us be like Peter who declared at the transfiguration, Lord, it is good for us to be here. It is good for us to be here on a mountain with friends, hoping that those characteristics come to mark all of our friendships. Because you know, when all is said and done, if we are faithful to practice these distinctions with one another, What happens is Christ in you stirs Christ in me, and Christ in me stirs Christ in you. That's good company. And that is exactly what it means that iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another, Proverbs 27, 17. To sharpen someone else, you need to be close to them, not just relationally, but physically. I asked my husband, who was a butcher for 20 years, about the science of sharpening knives. I've been watching him sharpen knives for decades. I never really thought about what's going on there until I started meditating on this proverb. Surprisingly, he told me that iron sharpens iron by one instrument of strengthening, that's usually called the sharpening steel, straightening a blade of iron. It doesn't get sharpened by wearing it down or flying it away, because you don't want to take anything away from what's already there. That would diminish it. But what you do want to do is straighten the blade. Sharpening steel. I just saw a few eyes get really big. So I want you to know I've been practicing this for three months, at this moment. So iron sharpens iron. And what he taught me, he was not happy about trying to teach me how to do this, by the way. We started slowly, and he worked me up to it. So I don't want to nick this. I don't want to damage this. I don't want to do no shit. I want to straighten it. And that's what this does. And as you run the blade down this blade, you're not taking any damage. You're straightening this blade. And you want a straight blade, because a straight blade All right, we're going to move on to our second characteristic. Friends are earnest counselors. Proverbs 27 9, oil and perfume make the heart glad and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. In classic biblical parallelism, which happens throughout the Psalms and the Proverbs, you've got this is like this, and this is like this. This verse equates oil and perfume that makes the heart glad with the sweetness of a friend's earnest counsel. To put it mathematically, oil and perfume equal earnest counsel, which means we could substitute the phrases and get earnest counsel makes the heart glad. Those two words, earnest counsel, mean, from the original language, out of wisdom and understanding, as of the breath of the inner being with its thoughts and emotions. In the Bible, the inner being always refers to the heart. So earnest counsel is wisdom and understanding from the heart, and which means the giving of which is a heart-to-heart transaction from my heart to yours. Importantly, wisdom and understanding come from a heart set on the things of the spirit. They are the treasures of a rich devotional life. So when a friend shares earnest counsel, she's sharing things she has cultivated from investing in her own spiritual life. That, I believe, is one of the most monumental components of Christian friendship. I can't give to you out of an empty heart, and you can't give to me out of an empty heart. Rather, we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith, Jude 120, so that we can be friends who give sweet, heart-gladdening, earnest counsel. Therefore, one of the most important things that we can do is to develop a robust motivation to develop our own spiritual lives. Investing in yourself in this way is a present grace for you in those moments, but it's also a future grace for your friends. Now we need to talk about the imagery of oil and perfume used in this proverb. Oil and perfume, which remember is equated with earnest counsel, are only made one way. Do you know how oil and perfume are made? Yeah, by crushing things. by, yeah, or distilling with heat, and then crushing them. So what's the metaphor? I think perhaps that the most urinal counsel comes from our friends' personal experiences of being refined and crushed. When someone has been through refining fire, and crushing purification with the Lord, she has something very, very precious to offer. The perfume of earnest counsel can be very costly. When it's truly from hard-won wisdom, it came at a great price, and its usefulness to you is priceless. The proverb says the result of this kind of counsel is that it makes our hearts glad simply at the receiving of it. It changes the atmosphere we share, like the perfume that Mary poured out on Jesus' feet and filled the whole house with its fragrance. John 12, 3. Notably, 1 Corinthians 4, one through two, tells us that when we are the ones who have hearty counsel to give, God wants us to be faithful stewards by sharing it with one another. Paul says, let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, a steward must be found trustworthy. So when the Lord has taken you through an experience and unfolded divine things, disclosed to you, when He has unfolded for you spirit-led understanding, you are being entrusted with something the Bible calls a mystery. And a mystery is just something that was hidden at one time and has now been made known. The Bible is full of mysteries that have been made known in Christ. For our part, we are found trustworthy as we steward or handle well these biblical truths and applied theology, which is just a fancy word for taking the things of God and pressing them into the fabric of your life. You apply them. One way we grow towards the mind of Christ is to take those spiritual thoughts we've been entrusted with, wisdom and understanding, and combine them with spiritual words. That is what disclosure is, sharing with another person, verbally, the glorious riches of Christ and his word. So when we share those things with our friends, we're multiplying the riches, that bread of heaven, as they, too, press the wisdom of our counsel into the fabric of their lives. I'm thrilled when someone shares with me something they've learned in their Bible study or their devotional time. I'm better because of it. And the fact of the matter is, she's better because of it, because she has combined those spiritual thoughts with spiritual words and shared it with me. Accordingly, this high view of the sweetness of a friend's earnest counsel must mean that complacency is not an option in friendship, at least not one modeled on the ideals of Christ's friendship with us that we looked at last night. A biblical definition of complacency is quietness, carelessness, and a lack of concern. Clearly, in so many ways, complacency lets opportunities for redemption pass by. either by offering the fast food of anecdotal device that doesn't quite get to the heart of the matter, or by merely commiserating with a problem someone is having, or complacency takes maybe the easiest way out. It does nothing, looking out for its own interests, usually to avoid discomfort. And it does this by avoiding real relationship, by avoiding the person altogether. Yet we know we are called to look out, not to only our own interests, but to the interests of others. Philippians 2.4. So be on the lookout for complacency then. To be on the lookout for complacency, we want to look for any of the following tendencies, maybe even in this order. Lukewarm love, where hot and cold have begun to blend and has tempered the temperature of our love. Shallow interactions that just sort of stay at the surface level. Inconsistency, you find yourself not as reliable as maybe you once were. Or apathy, which is usually followed by out-and-out neglect. So should complacency begin to rear its apathetic head, We need to remember that the problem is not solved by conjuring up love and concern on our own. It's solved by getting close to Jesus so that love becomes a fruit produced by him through you. And then that love, his love, can take action. His is the kind of true love that persists when emotions fail. Here's a real example. I did, by the way, tell all my friends, you just need to know, you might show up in my talks this weekend. The names have been changed to protect everybody. I have a friend who used to have an impossible time handling the difficulties in life. And unfortunately, her go-to response when life didn't go the way she wanted was high-handed anger at God. And it would come out of her mouth as, where is this supposed love of God? He's not a good father. I'm asking for bread, and he's giving me stones. He's not a good father. She was enslaved to the pervasive mindset that life is good, God is good if life is good. Nobody says, yes, this is my theology. But functionally, it's not terribly uncommon. We really look hard at ourselves. The problem is, for me, when fellow Christians rail against the Lord, I don't like it. That pokes, what's that saying? That pokes the old bear in me that wants to just sort of lash out. And then that would usually have been followed in the younger me of just walking away, of just cutting somebody like that off, you know, chalking it up to annoyance at best and blasphemy at worst. But what if I had just walked away? and not taken the time to lead her to a robust theology of suffering and of the cross and pointing her to Calvary and how we can identify with our Savior through all of the hardships of life. What if I'd chosen complacency over love? I would have lost her as a friend. She'd have lost me as a friend. We'd slowly drift apart until the only thing that remained was this discomfort whenever we were around each other and Jesus would be nowhere in sight. That's what complacency does, is it casts Jesus out of friendship and leaves it subject to the whims of the flesh. We don't want that. I mean, we might want the perceived relief that it would bring, but in reality, we don't want to abandon fidelity to both our friends and to the Lord, which means that sometimes friendship is a rescue mission. It's active, not complacent. Presence to presence friendship calls us to actively go into the presence of another who may not be very inviting, or who may even be pushing us away. In Genesis 14, Abraham received word that his kinsmen, including his nephew Lot, had been taken captive by enemy kings. It goes on to say, when Abraham heard that his kinsmen had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsmen lot with his possessions and the women and the people. He went after his kinsmen to bring them back. This isn't the last time Abraham would go after a lot to rescue him. Abraham was active. Complacency is the most dangerous thing we can do when a friend is drifting from faith. Friendship calls us to move toward them Help them see their trouble and bring them back. Which leads us to our third characteristic. Friends are steadfast collaborators. Proverbs 18.24, a man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Earlier we talked about wanting to initiate and pursue the actual company of our friends. Here we want to talk about keeping the company of our friends. Keep, it means to stick. We stick through thick and thin. Tim Keller says that a friend who sticks closer than a brother always lets you in and never lets you down. True friends are dependable friends. They are there to go metal to metal through all kinds of times, and all sorts of weather. If I make that 2 a.m. call, she's there for me. When my husband went into diabetic coma a few months ago, I called my best friend Erin, and she was there with her husband in two minutes. He's a paramedic, and they brought him back to life. She stayed with me until 2 in the morning, until the coast was clear. All kinds of weather. If she calls me when I'm already juggling too much in my day, I clear my schedule. So if the company we keep is iron-to-iron, and the counsel we give is heart-to-heart, then the collaboration we offer is metal-to-metal. Metal is this great old-fashioned word. It's M-E-T-T-L-E, not metal-like. Steel is metal, and it means a person's vigor, strength of spirit, and ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way. Old words the best. That is a great word, but a high bar, isn't it? And if we are not always, always trusting in the presence of Jesus in our friendship, we will weary of doing this kind of good. However, rooted and grounded in Christ, he will strengthen us to go metal to metal, and he will strengthen our friends for our good. That is when collaboration or mutual constancy becomes a regular hallmark of our friendships. In other words, effective collaboration is when Jesus is our metal. So how is this metal demonstrated? For Christians, The primary way we collaborate is by being obedient to Christ together. And I hope you're hearing the hallmarks from last night being inserted into our everyday friendships. This obedience, it turns out, is a proof as well as a characteristic of friendship with Christ. John 15, 14 says, you are my friends if you do what I command you. Jesus gave us his obedience and calls us to live obediently to him out of love. John 14, 15 says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Even though the beloved disciple tells us in 1 John 5, 3 that Jesus' commandments are not burdensome, continual obedience and unfailing faithfulness doesn't always come naturally. We know then that the only way that lifelong obedience is not burdensome is if we are yoked to another who is stronger and more resilient than ourselves. And we are. We're united to someone whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. He gives us rest as we work the fields of friendship at his side. He does that for his friends. Then if you and I are both Yoke to Jesus, our collaborations are exponentially strengthened. We'll each enjoy the power at work not only in ourselves, but the power at work in our friends as well. And this allows spiritual gifts and spiritual fruit to flourish because all the power of heaven is behind them. Yoke to Jesus, we are naturally obedient and naturally fruitful as we go where he leads. Christ's obedience to the Father brought the kingdom of heaven with him. into our midst. So since this king has a kingdom, our faithful collaboration with one another declares, demonstrates, and exalts Christ the king's inaugurated kingdom reign here on earth. Another important way friends collaborate together is by fighting for each other. Even when the going gets tough, a friend loves at all times. A couple of months ago, my husband and I were taking a walk on one of my favorite streets in Garner Valley, where we live. And as we were coming up one of the inclines, we started to hear this terrible screeching overhead. And as we looked up in one of the tallest pines, a robin had built her nest in an unfortunately exposed area. And what we were hearing was a hawk relentlessly coming in and attacking this mama robin. fighting, I thought, to her death to protect that nest and those eggs. But that hawk just kept coming in and coming in. And size-wise, there was just no competition whatsoever. But watching that relentless attack go on, and that robin determined to protect her nest, worked something up in me. I thought, where's the team of other robins who show up now to come and help? And as I stood there, I kept saying, John, can we do anything? He's like, we don't have anything to do anything with. And so we watched. And I screamed and yelled, thinking that might make a difference. But ultimately, that robin grew weary. And there was nothing more she could do. And as that hawk landed on her nest, I burst into tears. because I was grieved to the point of being distressed. And you know, in the sweetness of his ways, the Lord just comforted my spirit and said, you will never be that Robin. You will never be that Robin because Jesus is your defender. John 10, 28, I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. I thank the Lord that we are not defenseless. We have Jesus, and we have Jesus and our friends to fight for us. Paul's letter to Philemon illustrates this beautifully, how we can take a stand for our friends. In this letter, Philemon's slave, Onesimus, had run away and made his way to Rome. And one way or another, he had become acquainted with Paul, and had been converted under Paul's influence. Paul then writes to Philemon, the slave's owner, to vouch for the runaway slave, who is now a brother in the Lord. Philemon 1, 15 through 18, Paul writes, This perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. Paul is contending for Onesimus. And the stunning way he does this is by appealing to the fact that Onesimus is no longer a bondservant. You are no longer slaves. He has become more than that. He has a new identity, a beloved brother. The apostle Paul is saying, let him be to you as I am to you. Receive him as you would receive me. And I will be as him to you. His debts are my debts. I will cover them. You see, friends not only help each other grasp, grow, and grow in their identity in Christ, but they also help other people to see that new identity. Vouching for them, defending them, and taking it upon themselves to incur the cost that their friends are rightly regarded. You and I will never have to act as collateral for a runaway slave. But a common way we may need to fight for our friends is in the face of accusations or suspicions made against them. Whether a single voice or a chorus of voices speak poorly about someone we call friend, our call is to speak up. We must not stay silent in the midst of those kind of accusations. Rather, be the one who speaks up and says, you know, the woman of whom you speak is a beloved sister and friend to me. And who I know her to be is at odds with what I'm hearing you say. Perhaps I could encourage you to reassess your opinion of her. That's what Paul was saying to Philemon about Onesimus. And importantly, in the face of judgment and condemnation, that's what Jesus has said about you. You are more than a bondservant. You are especially beloved. And on the cross, all your debts have been paid. So let us fight for one another as beloved sisters. Finally, friends collaborate together in prayer, first by praying with each other. If you really want to know and be known, pray with each other. The walls go down. The defenses we hide behind. crumble away, and humbly we enter the gates of heaven together. You'd expect me to maybe quote Jerry Bridges or Andrew Murray here. I am going to quote you the lyrics of a song by Stephen Curtis Chapman. When I was in my 20s, he was quite the Christian artist, so some of you here know the name. All those people who didn't know the answers to last night's quiz, you don't know who I'm talking about. But the song is called Let Us Pray. And when I heard these lyrics, they stuck with me. He says, I hear you say your heart is aching. You've got trouble in the making. And you ask if I'll be praying for you, please. And in keeping with convention, I say yes with good intention to make mention to pray later, making mention of your needs. But since we have this moment now, here at heaven's door, we should start knocking now. What are we waiting for? Let us pray, let us pray, everywhere, in every way, every moment of the day, it is the right time. For the Father above, he is listening in love, and he wants to answer us, so let us pray. So when we feel the spirit moving, prompting, prodding, and behooving, there is no time to be losing, let us pray. Let the Father hear us saying what we need to be conveying. Even while this song is playing, let us pray. And just because we say the word amen, it doesn't mean this conversation needs to end. Let us pray. Let us pray. Maybe you'll think this is weird, but the next time your friend says, hey, would you pray for me, stop and pray for them right there and then. Pray together. Not only pray with each other, but pray for each other. A part that is both a duty and a privilege. The prophet Samuel even says in 1 Samuel 12, 23, moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. Far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. That's the duty part. But the privileged part is that in praying for one another, we come to know the heart of the Father for our friends. When I intercede for you, the Spirit of Christ is leading me to know you better, to know your needs better, and to intercede for you better. Ephesians 6.18 says, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication, to that end, keep alert, with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Given the context of this weekend being a retreat, I thought I would give you a matching example. A few years ago, I was speaking at a weekend retreat on the Proverbs 31 woman. And on Friday night, the ladies were gathered. And there was one woman sitting right up front. And she was clearly very eager and happy to be there. And she was taking notes. And she was super engaged until about 15 minutes into my talk, something happened. And her countenance changed entirely. And she started scowling at me and making faces and communicating very, very clearly that she was not into whatever I was saying. By the end of that talk, she was verbally heckling me. She was right up front, and a very powerful presence. Have you ever had that? I mean, that was... I had my own heckler. That was a new one for me. So I made it through that first talk completely discombobulated. So I went home that night and I started going over that first talk and I went to the Lord in earnest prayer because I had two more days left to go. So I was praying, I was asking the Lord, what happened? Why does this woman hate me so much? I'm like, we are in trouble, Lord, because I don't know what to do from here. So I started going over the talk. Proverbs 31 10 a virtuous wife who can find the heart of her husband trust in her and he will have no lack of gain I went over it and it came to me in prayer the Spirit of the Lord helped me to realize She was without a husband and this was an extremely painful weekend retreat for her I So I spent quite a bit of time praying for her. And the next morning, when I got there, I said to the women gathered, you know, the theme of this retreat is a difficult one for some of you because you are without husbands. But I want you to know that I have prayed for you. And I suddenly looked in the woman's direction, not with any sort of threatening way, and I said, I want you to know that I've prayed for you specifically, that Christ, your groom, would fill you with peace, and that you would know that God the Father knows your pain. He is watching, and he is loving you, and you matter to him. tears started streaming down her face. And I'm still so moved by that moment, because all I did was I prayed for her. I prayed about her, and then I prayed for her. And the Lord let me know what the pain was that was going on with her. And do you know the rest of the weekend? BFFs? That is the privilege part of praying for our friends. Well, that's the kind of prayer we engage in in the midst of difficulties and trials. But there's another kind that's just as powerful. Your friends will go through some very difficult times and trials. It's inevitable. So pray for them now, before the trouble befalls them. Pray in advance. Jesus did that. In Luke 22, 31 through 32, Jesus told Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have been strengthened, and when you have turned, Strengthen your brothers. How amazing would it be to know that your friends had prayed in advance for you? How amazing would it be for you to be able to tell your friends that you'd prayed in advance for them, that you'd rallied Jesus to their side for that time when the world, the flesh, and the devil would rattle their bones? Pray in advance for your friends. Friendship can do that. It can strengthen us now for what will be then. And it can do that because this Jesus, who always lets us in and never lets us down, hears our prayers. Paul believed this. He gives us this remarkable statement from prison in Philippians 119. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that this will turn out for my deliverance. One commentary makes this observation about that passage. Paul is not referring to the salvation of his soul, but rather his liberation from prison. He trusts that the means God will use in effecting his release will be the prayers of the Philippians and the ministry of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Marvel here at the importance which Paul puts on the prayers of a feeble band of believers. He sees them as sufficiently powerful to thwart the purposes and the mighty power of Rome. Don't fail to notice that those prayers Paul trusted in were a collaboration for the advancement of the gospel of the kingdom. When friends collaborate together with and for each other in prayer, the very cause of Christ is advanced. So let's pray with our friends, for our friends, and in advance. To conclude then, we manifest the life and glory of Christ in our everyday friendships as we sharpen each other, iron to iron, that's the company we keep, as we offer words of life to each other, heart to heart, that's the counsel we give, and as we vie for life with each other, metal to metal, those are the collaborations we undertake. What a marvel everyday Christian friendship can be. Thank you, Tricia. Let's take a 20 minute break.