After spending three years in communist China, and by the way, it is communist, for those of you who watch CNN and believe it, it's still communist, amen? And so, one guy asked me, he said, in another church before coming here, he said, what's the difference between your ministry there in Montreal, when you're ministering in Montreal and communist China? I said, well, the light shines brighter in the darkness. That's pitch black darkness over there. They sang a wonderful song about being thankful for the church you're in. Amen. You ought to be very thankful for this church you're in. Because when I got to Communist China, I was very thankful for the church I was in in Montreal. And I realized what I left behind when I got into a place where it's pitch black darkness spiritually. But you know Micah 7, 8 says, Rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. The light shines brighter and brighter in the darkness, and even in your own personal lives, it will shine brighter when it's dark. You shouldn't shun the darkness. That's where you're going to see the Lord's blessing. And I saw the Lord's blessing in China, but some of you might not know me. The rest of you who do know me, just be friendly with them anyway, it's okay. So it's good to be back here. I consider this my home away from home. I feel very welcomed here, and I feel very at home in this church. Because for two years after I got saved reading a gospel track. I got saved reading a gospel track right in the middle of downtown Montreal. I didn't even know who handed me the gospel track. I was just asking God in my head, is eternal life really a free gift? I'll take it if it is, God. Just let me know. You have to let me know somehow. I took a track and I was walking away and it said eternal life is a free gift. And so I didn't hesitate. I just sat down on a chair and got saved. I asked Jesus Christ to save me. And I've been feasting on a little crumb from the bread of life for, what is it now, since 1992. Amen. A crumb from the master's table is better than a feast at the devil's table. Amen. And so, I got savory in a gospel track, but I had no church to go to for two years. For two years, there wasn't a church worth going to. Until finally, we came to pick up a man. I came over here with a couple of brethren over there to pick up a man from this church. So I would have no church to go to if it wasn't for this church. Amen? That's Pastor Larry Theophanopoulos, who is up there right now, and I had a church to go to, and God was able to call me to China through another man, who is from this church also. So this is my home away from home. I mean, I'm in the will of God because of this church, amen? And the leading of God's Spirit. So, I want to praise God for this church. I'm very glad to be back here. And it's an opportunity and privilege and honor to be able to step in this pulpit and preach. I mean, lots of preachers in this generation have taken this responsibility and this honor for granted. I mean, this is the Word of God. When you step in this pulpit, you're representing God. You're speaking on behalf of God. This is not just any normal book here. This is the Word of God. I mean, that's a scary thing. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. At least it should be. I mean, we ought to tremble at the Word of God when we preach it. I take this pulpit and preaching the Word of God like Donald Cargill, the Scottish martyr, did in 1681. He was climbing up the gallows to get his head chopped off by religious fanatics. And he's getting up there, and then one lady screamed out of the crowd and said, Brother Cargile, do you have any fear? And he turned around and stopped, and he said, The Lord knows I have more fear entering into the pulpit than I go to this gallow to lose my head. Amen. We ought to enter this pulpit with reverent fear of God. Okay, so now before I begin this message, I want to give a brief testimony on how God called me to go to China. Because the problem with most of us, and the problem with me, before I went to China, was I wanted to serve God with all my heart, but I wanted to serve Him as an advisor. I wanted to advise God as to what I was going to do for Him, where I was going to do it, and when I was going to do it. And you know, I was doing good, it's not like I was doing anything bad, but the thing is I was doing it my own way. I was advising God on what should be done. Finally, I got on my knees and I prayed and I said, God, listen, I would really like to be doing what you want me to do, where you want me to do it, before you come back. I mean, it would be a terrible shame for me to not be doing what God wants me to do, where He wants me to do it, when He comes back. So I feared that happening to me. And I was preaching in French at a French service in Montreal. I was preaching in English. I was preaching at the Welcome Hall Mission. I was preaching on the street. I was handing out tracts. And I was preaching in Italian also when I was called upon to do that. So I thought to myself, I said, God, surely I'm doing what you want. Where do you want me to do it? And God gave me this great job. I was just below the vice president of the company. I was able to send suits to all my friends, pastors, preachers, friends, missionaries, evangelists. I was sending suits all over the place. $2,000 suits for $66 Canadian. I was the inventory manager and buyer. I was sending them all over the place. I was having a blast, but I had no peace. I said, God, what's the problem? And then God was putting China on my heart. China? I said, God, let me advise you here. God, just wait a second. You know, I don't think you understand the situation here. I speak English, French, and Italian. You could send me to Italy, you could send me to France, you could send me somewhere in Africa that speaks French. I mean, send me somewhere where I'll have some value. And God kept on putting China in my heart, so then I said, okay, okay, wait a second, God, fine. You want me in China? Then, and then this church has a lot to do with me going to China. Because the first thing I did, I stacked the deck in my favor. I said, God, Five years ago, at least five or six years ago, Brother Smith's daughter, Deanna, was emailing my sister. And we haven't heard from them in five or six years. So I said, you know what? Get her to email my sister again, and I'll think about going to China. And I walked away and kept on serving God. And then I was, after I came to Pastor Larry Cephanopoulos' son, Todd's, Todd, right over there, his wedding, I went back to work, and I was at my office working, and I couldn't feel my feet. And I had three crushed discs in my spine already. So the doctor said, when you start getting numb in your legs, that's when we have to operate. I said, oh no. So I started working, I just ignored it. And then one morning I woke up, I couldn't feel anything from my waist down to my feet. And I was walking at work, and I didn't want my employer to notice it, but it's kind of difficult to walk when you don't feel your legs. So I was walking around like this, and so then my employer said, Luigi, what's wrong with you? Nothing, nothing, look, I'm just a bit tired. And so I'm walking around and then I woke up the next morning and I couldn't feel anything from my chest down to my toes. And I went into work, they rushed me to the emergency and they did a whole gamut of tests on me and they still couldn't figure out what was wrong. They said, go get your stuff and come back and then we're going to do more tests on you. So I went back home and I got my stuff and then I realized that when I was at Todd's wedding, I told Jay that I would send him a suit. And I bought that suit as soon as I got back to Montreal, but I left it in my closet. And I'm looking through my closet to get some clothes to go back to the hospital and I saw the suit and I said, oh no, Jay must think I'm a back-slidden rotten wretch or something. So I took the suit and I rushed off the UPS and I wrote a letter, look, please pray for me, I can't feel my legs, I can't feel my chest, I can't breathe properly, just pray for me, okay? And sorry about the suit. And I put it in there and I mailed it to him. And the suit got to him, what was it, the day before? The day before his mother died, right? No, the day before he buried his mother. And then the suit fit perfectly. And not only that, the thing is, Deanna, Brother Smith's daughter, was visiting that day. As soon as the box came in, she saw Luigi on the cover and said, Oh wow, I remember him! And opened up the box and read the letter and emailed my sister. And so when I got out of the hospital, I was limping out of the hospital, my sister was looking at me with this... Because she knew I prayed that. Luigi, you have to look at the computer. I said, what is it? Look, I'm the one that can't feel my legs. And what's wrong with you? So I walked in there and he said, you won't believe this. And I looked at the computer screen and went, I don't believe it. I said, God, how in the world did she get this? How did she find out the email? How does she know I'm sick? And then I found out that it was through Jay's package that I had sent. And so it started there. And then God, and then I said, no. And then Teresa said, are you going to China? I said, no way. I mean, God's not going to make it clearer than that. And I took off. And then July 14, 2001, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The doctor called me in the office, and he was shaking more than I was. I said, I'm really sorry, I know you're young and everything, but you've got multiple sclerosis. The plaques are in your head, they're in your spine, they're all over the place. I said, okay, what am I supposed to do? Go to the MS specialist. So I went to the MS specialist of Canada, in Montreal, and I went to see him and said, how did I get this thing? He goes, I don't know. How do I get rid of it? I don't know. What am I doing here? I don't know. Well, I know. Here's a track. You need Jesus. And they said, you know what you need to do, he told me? The doctor said, you need to pray Jesus, because this thing's going to paralyze you. Yours is terrible. It's all over your body. And I said, OK, no problem. I will pray Jesus. But you better consider praying him, too. Because I'm going to heaven if I die. But where are you going? And then after that, I was driving to church. It was a Wednesday night. And I hadn't been to church in two weeks. I was in the hospital. So I'm driving to church. I get there. And I get in the pack, and I didn't know what was happening at church. I got in church, and there was a missionary of China in the church. And I sat down, and I was driving the car saying, God, you gotta make it clear now, because I'm sick, and I don't know how much time I got left. And I got in church, and he says, and Pastor Larry says, okay, brother, this is brother, I think it was Brother Mills or something like that. Missionary of China, come here in the pulpit and let us... Oh no, God, come on. Now when I've got... I can't feel my chest or my legs. You're gonna send me out to China. And I said, no, you have to make it clearer than that. So then I had a couple of weeks off from work because of this illness, and I went downtown to hand out gospel tracts. So I'm handing out gospel tracts, and this Chinese guy is standing behind me. So I turn my back. And I hand out gospel tracts like this, and I had a stack this big. And I was handing them out, and I waited until I got to the end, and he's still there. And I had about this much left. And I said, OK, here, read this. And I kept on going. And then when I finished, he was still there. And so I walked up and I said, OK, look, do you understand what you're reading there? He said, yes, I understand. Jesus, Jesus, here. Jesus, Jesus, he's here. I said, OK, great, wonderful. You're saved? Yes, yes, and you're born again. Oh, wonderful, great. You don't need me. See you later. And he says, no, no, no. He grabs my shoulder. He said, no, no, no, no. Me, me, me get you a job in China. I said, I don't want no job in China. You don't even know me. I never even met you before. Who are you?" And then I said, look, I have no pen. You have no pen. Just call the church. The address of the church is on the back. Telephone number is there. Call. Everybody knows Luigi. And I just took off. And I told my friends at church, I said, look, I think I'm going to have to go to China. Maybe. I'm not sure yet. Then I told him the story about this guy, and I was in charge of street evangelism. So I took all the guys out every Saturday morning. We went to different metro stations in Montreal, subways. So we went to this one subway that's on the other side of the city, where I met this guy. And I'm handing out tracks and everything, and I turn around and I see him. And he looks at me and goes, Luigi! And I said, what are you doing here? He goes, I have pen today. I can't believe it. So he wrote down my telephone number and said, who are you? He goes, oh, me professor, me professor. I get your job in China. I said, OK, whatever. So then my friends came up to me and they saw me talking to this Chinese guy who said, Luigi, you're going to China, right? Don't tell me that was the guy you met the other day. He says, yeah, it is. Come on, God can make it clearer than that. This can happen. I mean, all kinds of things can happen in Montreal. So it's got to be clearer than this. So then after that, I was driving my car, and I was driving my car, and it was a Geo Metro, and I'm driving a thing, and I used to pick up people, bring them to church, and it was a big snowstorm in Montreal, and I'm driving up thinking, God, look, if you want me to go to China, you've got to make it really clear. I mean, look, this is a serious decision. I'm serving you here. You've got to make this very clear. And my car blew up. The engine blew right there. On the highway. And I had to pull over in a big snowstorm. I stood beside the thing. It was collecting all kinds of snow, waiting for the brethren to pick me up. And I said, God, please. I was just asking for some direction. I had to blow up the car. What am I supposed to do now? And so then I went to the church. And as soon as I got in the church, a lady approached me. In our church, Montreal. She approached me and said, Luigi, I heard your car just blew up. I said, yeah, it did. But God's good. And then she said, well, you know, my friend, she wants to give her car to somebody who's worthy. Well, amen, I'm worthy. I can fit that category. And I said, OK, you can meet her tomorrow. I'm going to set up a meeting at this restaurant. So I went to the meeting at the restaurant and then she said, oh, Luigi, how are you? I said, yeah, I'm fine. And she sat down and says, OK, I want to give my car away because I'm going to be leaving for China as a missionary. So I got a nice brand new Toyota Tercel from the missionary who was leaving for China. And so anyway, all kinds of things like that were happening. And then finally I said, OK, God, listen, no problem, I will go to China. But I'll go in five years. I'll go in five years, Lord, because I got a big debt. And you know I got this debt. And when I go to China, I won't be making dirt money. I won't be making anything. So I can't pay this debt. So after I pay this debt, I'll go to China. So that was peaceful. And then about two or three days later, I got an email. And it's from a guy that I hadn't seen in a long time in the States. He emailed me and said, Luigi, I came across some money. You've been a blessing in my life. I just want to pay your debt. The Lord's laid in my heart. So I emailed him back. You're about to test the spirits, brother, because this is a big, you want to make sure you're doing what God wants you to do, because this is going to cost you quite a bit of money. And then he emails me back. He says, don't worry about it, brother. You've been a blessing to me. I'll pay it off. Don't worry about it. God's given me some money. It won't hurt me a bit. So I said, OK, are you sure about this? And I gave him the whole list, emailed it to him, and he says, no problem, checks in the mail. And I got a check for $21,000 to pay off all my debts. And then after that, when I paid off my last debt on the computer, I went, now my foot was no longer in my mouth, it was flushed down my throat, tickling my intestine. So now I was stuck. So I emailed Brother Smith, and I said, Brother Smith, here's the story. I think I've got to go to China. And he emails me back nice and short, like Brother Smith always does in his emails, nice and short, to the point he said, if you don't get to China soon, I'm going to pick you up on the seashore after whales spit you out. So I split immediately, went to China with no support. But I always make the mistake when I say that, I say in other churches, I said I went to China with nothing. But that's not true. I went to China with God. I went to China with something. The best thing. I went with God. I mean, I was fully convinced that I was supposed to be there. I'm still fully convinced I'm supposed to be there. And God's going to have to do something really miraculous to get me out of there. Because now I'm stuck. And then, after that, when I got to China, I went there single. She was not with me the first two years. My lovely wife, Sabrina. And so God blessed me with all kinds of things. I went there with something that could provide me with everything I need. I thought I went with nothing, but I went with the only thing I needed, and God has provided me with everything else. And He provided me with a lovely wife that I couldn't dream laid into existence. I mean, I tried before that, and it was a nightmare. So I want to praise God for that, and praise God for this church. It was through this church, really, that I ended up where God wanted me to be. And so anyway, now I'm going to preach this message. And before I do that, I want to just introduce it shortly. Because this message has a history. And this message here was the first message I preached in China. God laid it on my heart. I didn't want to preach it, but God laid it on my heart to preach this message in China, the first one. And then now, I found out later on, when Pastor Jimmy had been abducted, 2005, he got abducted by the secret police. He was taken in for interrogation and everything else. And when that happened, I was on my way to church to teach the children in the learning center. And the brethren called me and said, go anywhere but church because Pastor Jimmy's just been abducted. I said, oh, here it started. So I ran off to a bathroom stall and called my fiancé, then fiancé, at three o'clock in the morning Canadian time. And I said, listen, you better pray for us. Pastor Jimmy's been abducted and I'm in a bathroom stall. And then when I got to school, They were waiting for me at the school because they found out about this thing too. And I got into the school. I got into my apartment. They came to see me. The foreign affairs officer was a member of our church. He said, stay in this apartment. Don't get out until we see how bad this is. And I was basically in house arrest. I couldn't leave my apartment. They'd opened up the gates so I could go and teach English, so I wouldn't walk on the street. I'd give them money to go buy something for me. And I felt terrible. I said, God, did I do something? Did I overdo it and Pastor Jimmy's going to have to suffer for this? I told the brethren, I said, I want to go and give myself up. He's got a wife. I got nothing. And so I felt terrible about it. And the devil was beating me that whole week I was in there. Then when Pastor Jimmy got out, we met in a secret location. And I asked him, I said, listen, is it my fault? I want to know if it's something I did, if it's my fault, because I felt terrible. I want to give myself up to release you." And then he said, well, I'm glad that you told me that, brother. Because when I was in interrogation, the first message you preached in China was passing through my mind. I didn't know why at the time, except for the last day. The last day that he was in interrogation, they brought him a piece of paper. And imagine, he signed a paper that he would stay in there for six months, if that's what it took. And then he got this piece of paper and it said, I testify and believe that the foreigner broke Chinese law, and asked him to sign it. And then he looked at the paper, and this message that I'm going to preach to you passed through his mind. And then he said, my friend didn't break Chinese law. And then he put the paper down, and they got upset and just released him, because they couldn't pin anything on any of us. But if he would have signed that, I'd have been hung to dry. Amen. He's more than a brother to me, he's my friend. So my text tonight will come from the book of Proverbs. So please take your Bibles and turn with me to Proverbs chapter 18 verse 24. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 24. Now I will quote several other verses throughout the message, but for sake of time you will have to write them down and look at them in your own leisure because we can't go to all of them because I want to finish this thing. So then, Proverbs 18.24 tells us, A man that has friends must shew himself friendly. But there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Now, with a loaded verse like that, you can go in a million different directions, but don't worry, I won't do that. I'm only going to go in one direction. And this afternoon, well, this evening, I would like to focus on the first part of that verse. A man that has friends must shew himself friendly. But before we do that, let's take a brief look at this friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Now, we are aware that brethren are close to each other, but not like friends. The Bible says in Proverbs 17, verse 17, A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. So the Bible makes a difference between a friend and a brother. There's a difference there. There's a big difference. For instance, I have a brother named Giuseppe. Now, you talk about being born for adversity. My brother's been born for adversity. My older brother rescued me out of trouble on several occasions. We made a great team. He had big biceps and I had a big mouth. It was perfect. In fact, I was known at school as Giuseppe's little brother and my sister Teresa was known as Luigi's little sister. So if you mess with one, it was a domino reaction. You got the wrath of the whole family. It was on you. And I remember one time, I was skating, playing hockey outside on a pond, and the re-shards, our neighbors, came and attacked me and ripped my ski pants up and beat me up. And I couldn't beat them, so I just walked home. And then my brother was coming from a real hockey game with all the pads on and everything. He said, what happened to you? The re-shards jumped on me and ripped my skis too. He says, don't worry. Come with me. And he walked next door, and he knocked on the door. He said, come on here! Come on here! Come on here! And nobody came out. And he had his skates on. He said, OK, this is for my brother Skidoo suit. And he had one of those aluminum doors. He put his foot through and pulled it out. And then he walked away. He says, you don't worry about it, brother. I'm with you. So he's born for adversity. A brother's born for adversity, man. And they never came to our house because my father's worse than my brother. They would have never came to see that. So I love my brother and he loves me. I would do anything for my brother. And he would do anything for me, but we are never on the same page. Me and my brother were never on the same page. King David in the Old Testament had many brothers, and I'm sure he loved every single one of them. But the Bible says he loved Jonathan, his friend, who was the son of Saul like his own soul. That's his friend. That's a deep love right there. They had a closeness that went far beyond family ties. You don't choose your family, but you do choose your friends. You do choose your friends. Take us in this room. We're all brothers to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think you love Him at all times? Please, don't hold your breath while you think about that, okay? Unfortunately, we don't. But we ought to. And how about Hymenaeus and Philetus? In 2 Timothy 2, verse 17, who preached false doctrine. They were saved. They were the Lord's brothers. They're in heaven. But they were not His friends. They were not His friends. What about the Christian man who slept with his mother in 1 Corinthians 5? and was delivered to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. He was the Lord's brother, but he certainly wasn't the Lord's friend. You see, the Lord has many brothers, but not so many friends. But thank God he is our friend, amen? And thank God it doesn't depend on what we do. He was my friend long before I deserved to be called his friend. In Matthew 11, verse 19, Jesus is called the friend of publicans and sinners, amen? I fit the bill. I'm a publican because I tax the Lord's nerves all day long with my behavior. And while a sinner, that's obvious to any honest person. If that's not clear enough, Jesus says in John chapter 15, verse 15, I have called you friends. I have called you friends. You talk about a friend sticking closer than a brother, he's the one. He's the one. We sing a hymn sometimes in church entitled, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. And boy, do we ever. And we take it for granted. Pastor Andrews preached a great message this morning on Calvary, how we forget Calvary. How could you forget Calvary? How could you forget Jesus loving enough? And a brother from Delaware mentioned this. Great a love hath no man that this, and a man may lay down his life for his friends. That's what Jesus did, and how we forget him? We're not very friendly. The hymn says, All our sins and griefs to bear. Amen. That's a heavy load. That's not only yours, that's mine too. That was Adolf Hitler's. That was everybody's. He bore all the sins. That's a heavy load. We ought to remember Him. When the brethren had to toss that fornicator out of the Corinthian church, you know who was waiting for Him outside the church, aside from the devil? The Lord. The Lord was waiting for that guy outside the church. Why? Because the Lord sticks closer than a brother. Remember, a friend loveth at all times. A friend loveth at all times. The Lord loved that fornicator. He loved him to death. Death of the cross. The Lord's love for you and I compelled him to be crucified on a cross. That's his love for us. There are times where I would rather split skulls than hand out tracks. And in both instances, it's the same Luigi covered by the same divine love. His love hasn't changed. My attitude has changed. But his love has not changed. It doesn't change. It's unchanging. Now that love might cause God to react in a different way if I want to split skulls. I might get chastised or something. But it's still done in love. And it's all depending on the situation. But He still loves me because He's my friend. He's my friend. So now that we know that we have a friend, and what a friend! Our verse says, a man that has friends must show himself friendly. I wonder if we are showing ourselves friendly with the Lord. I mean, after all, He's our friend, right? The question now is, are we his friends? That's the question. Let's take a look at a few of God's friends. Maybe we can learn something about being friendly to the Lord. John the Baptist, in John chapter 3 verse 29, called himself the friend of the bridegroom, which is Jesus Christ. Friend in this context is like Samson's friend in the book of Judges chapter 14 verse 20, which means the witness at a wedding. The witness at a wedding. So John the Baptist was friendly to the Lord by witnessing. You talk about a witness. That man was a witness. This man feared nothing. His desire was to be friendly to his friend by witnessing. He rebuked kings, soldiers, religious leaders, tax collectors. These were people that could have killed him and did. He got his head chopped off for witnessing, for being friendly to his friend. His life was of no importance to him as desire was, as Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 clearly states, Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. When you give a bold witness for the Lord, you are sharpening your friend's countenance. The problem in our generation is the witness is not so bold. As we near the end of this dispensation of time, our Lord's countenance is getting rather dull. Lousy or no witness at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is diminishing so much in American and Canadian society, that when I was witnessing to a Frenchman, a Roman Catholic, back in Montreal, I gave him a Bible, and the next day he came back and he said, hey, Luigi, that story at the beginning of the book you gave me, that's a neat story. I just concluded, wait a minute, what do you mean? The story at the beginning of the book you gave me, the Bible. What do you have in the Bible? And I said, what, you mean the creation? Yeah, how God created everything, that's pretty neat. You never heard that before? The man was 21 years old. He never heard about the creation. Asked, what about Moses in the Red Sea? He knew nothing. 21 years old in North America. And he had no clue about the creation. If it's getting that bad in Canada, how bad do you think it is in Chinese society? Or some other place in the world where they haven't heard the Gospel, or the Word of God for hundreds of years, or 50 years. We need to get busy, brethren, sharpening our Lord and friends' countenance by witnessing. Isabel Kuhn was a missionary to China, along with this man named Fraser, years ago when there was no TV, no internet, no telephone, none of these amenities. They endangered their lives going there at that time. They went over there and they heard this many times when they were witnessing. They said, the Chinese would tell them, if your message is so important, you would have come sooner. I heard that a couple of times in my Bible studies in my apartment. They said, hey, listen, if your message is so important, how come we just got it now? What are you supposed to say? Somebody's not being friendly to their friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for these people. Is our message important? Then let's get friendly and witness for the Lord. Before the whole society, before American society and Canadian society, disappears into the hands of the devil completely. Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 14, You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. His command to every saved sinner was go, not stay, into all the world and preach the gospel. I got bad news for you, Christians. Birmingham and Forestdale is part of the world. Amen? Are you being friendly to your friend here in this part of the world? Don't expect to be friendly in another part of the world when they want to throw you in jail if you can't be friendly here. It's not going to send you to Mongolia. God's not going to send you there if you can't be friendly here. God's not going to send you in pitch black spiritual darkness if you can't be friendly in the light. Are you being friendly to your friend? I hope so, because lots of Christians are not being friendly to their friend. I was the first one saved in my family and I was so excited that I witnessed everybody. And these are Catholics. I'm from a raised in an Italian family. Italian Roman Catholics. These are hardcore Catholics. And I witnessed to them, and they threw me out and warned my sister about me and everything else. But I didn't care. I was happy. I was saved. I mean, I wasn't going to hell. You ought to be happy. When I had nobody to witness to, I even witnessed to the cardboard cutouts at work to practice my witnessing. I said, now listen, you know you're a sinner. And I'd preach to little things. I wanted to be friendly to my friend who was, is, and will be friendly to me. And I was at work. I was a buyer and an inventory manager. So I had my own office. And these two Hindus came in. And I witnessed everybody at work. Everybody knew I was a Christian. If they had a question about the Bible, they knew who to come to see. Everybody knew. I gave them tracts, everything. So then in that office, they came to me with the Easter tract that I gave them, the resurrection tract. And they came to my office as Luigi. And they threw it down on my desk, threw it down there. And they said, come on, Luigi, you don't believe this stuff that Jesus actually died and resurrected? I said, well, why shouldn't I believe it? Then he said, come on, we have a Hindu guru here in Montreal that can do the same thing Jesus did on that cross. Hello? Explain. Then he said, come on, Jesus was meditating on that cross. He didn't really die, so he didn't resurrect from the dead. Oh, your guru can meditate like Jesus did on that cross? I was fainting that I was interested in what they were saying. And so then I said, OK, great, no problem. Your guru is here in Montreal. Yeah, yeah, he can do it. He can do the same thing Jesus did on the cross. Great. We have a bunch of Italians back at church. We're having an Easter service. And so I want you to bring your guru there, and we're going to beat the snot out of this guy. We're going to rip the beard off his face. We're going to rip and whip him so raw his bones are sticking out of his body. And then we're going to, for good measure, we're going to drag him out. And then we're going to crucify him on a piece of wood and let him hang there. And then, just to make sure he did everything Jesus did on that cross, we're going to take a spear and shove it right in his gut. Now, if he meditates through that, I'll believe you're guru. And then I leaned over my desk and said, by the way, service starts at 10 o'clock. Don't be late. And those two guys, you know, they're all the skin, you know, dark. And so he said, they turned white like a sheet and looked at each other and said, you know what? We just write that Jesus went through a lot of that cross, you know, and they picked up the tracks and walked out. Why? I gave a bold witness to the Lord for the Lord. I'm not going to let them trample the name of my savior, my friend. The problem with most Christians, they won't lift up a standard anymore. They'll listen to all these people blaspheme the name of Christ, and they won't say a thing, just walk by. I remember I was playing tennis after I got saved with another brother, and we were fully dressed, and we were playing tennis, and this one guy... We looked kind of odd, but anyway, we were fully dressed, and we were playing tennis, and this one guy was cursing the name of Jesus every time he missed a shot. Right beside us. And I would get distracted. I was getting really frustrated. So I threw my racket down on the ground. I said, Hey, listen, what does Jesus have to do with you being such a lousy tennis player? Why don't you curse Buddha? Curse yourself or something. So I picked up the racket. And then you could hear, everything was very silent in the tennis court. And the next time he missed a shot, he said, Oh, you idiot. He wasn't cursing the Lord anymore. He took my advice. Amen. He was cursing himself. You idiot. Oh, you can't take a shot. He stopped cursing the Lord. Why? Because he gave a bold witness. I didn't want him to trample the name of my Savior and my presence. And even at work, everybody knew I was a Christian. I worked in a Jewish company. And I had no tracks of the vice-presidents and the presidents and everything else, and they're Jewish, and they took the tracks, and I was a great worker. I had a good testimony. They were willing to accept that to me because I had a good testimony. John the Baptist had a good testimony. People would listen to him and come and get baptized and believe him because he had a testimony that backed up his mouth and what he was saying. So those Jews, I remember we were sitting in a big meeting, because I had to buy all the buttons for the suits and material and everything else. So I was in the meeting with all these guys, and it's a family business, like most Jewish businesses are. So there's two brothers sitting there, two vice presidents. The president was there, the father, and all the other guys. And we're sitting there, and I was explaining, we're going to need these buttons and this thing here. And then one guy slammed his fist on the table, and he said, the Lord's name. And then the other brother got up and said, don't say that, Luigi's going to get offended. I didn't have to say anything. They were doing it for me now. And he's Jewish. Why? Because I gave a bold witness. That's why. And so then I was sharpening the countenance of my friend. And then I was witnessing to all of them. Every time a new worker came in, I had a track ready for him. And I found out that the guys at work had a pool set up that they were betting in, and seeing when Luigi's going to get the new guy, because there's a new guy in, so they're going to get him before the break at lunch, morning, or after the break, and they all set up the big chart. And I found out because the new guy was there, and they didn't give him a track yet, because I was too busy, and then I was trying to find him in the back where all the trucks were loading up, and there he was. And so then another guy came out and said, Luigi, are you going to give him a track now? I said, what do you care? And then he goes, get back to work. And then he goes, come on, Luigi, give him a track now. And he looks at his wallet. Come on, Luigi, just hand him a track. It's OK. You're going to do it anyway. I said, why do you want me to hand him a track? And then another guy came in and said, you're cheating. You're cheating. What's going on here? So then I saw their chart and everything else and how they had to see when Luigi's going to give the track to the new guy. See? They knew I was going to do it. Now compare that with the witness of this girl named Miriam Groneveld. My sister's classmate in high school. Like, when I got saved, I told my sister on the phone, I said, listen, you have to be born again. I didn't find the truth. He found me. Amen? Jesus Christ is the truth. You've got to get saved. You're going to hell. And so then she hung up on me. But anyway, she went and spoke to this girl, Miriam Groneveld, in a room about this size. They were doing the yearbook, placing all the pictures in the school yearbook, and they're sitting right across from each other, and she says, you know what? You go to church. I know you go to church. My brother's in Montreal, and he said something about this born-again thing, and she went, huh, huh. And my sister said, oh, I'm sorry if I offended you. Just forget about it. She's born-again Christian. She's a Baptist. She let my sister walk out of those doors on her way to hell without a witness. She talked about an open door. Hello, I kick some doors open that I probably shouldn't do, but I kick them open to try to witness to somebody. This girl here had it fall right in her lap, and she never witnessed. Jeremy Murdoch. When I was lost, the Lord was trying to get me, and I had a little hymn book beside my... My locker was here, and there was a fountain here, and I found a hymn book there one day. I didn't know what a hymn book was, I was Catholic. So I picked it up, and I looked, and I said, what's this? Oh, God stuff. And I put it in my jean jacket pocket, and I was going around with the God stuff. Because I always believed in God, and I knew I was going to hell. So I thought I was going to do a service for God, and he would put a checkmark on my name, and I would be okay in his sight. So I pulled the thing out, and any time I saw somebody in the hallways, I'd pull it out and say, hey, by the way, don't worry about it, God said, heart to herald, angels sing, glory to newborn king. And I'd put it back in there, and I would do that to everybody. To the point where there's one guy, Tim Rossi, came running and said, Lloyd, you don't leave yet. I said, what? What is it? I got an exam. So go do it. What do you want? Do you want to write your exam? No, no, tell me what God said. Oh, yeah, sure. So I pulled it out and I said, hey, God said, there's a fountain filled with blood. They go, thanks. And he runs off. They came to me. There's Christians in that school, but they came to me. This is embarrassing for the Christians. And one of those Christians was my lab partner, Jeremy Murdoch in physics. I was sitting there and I did it to him. I pulled it out and I said, hey, Jeremy, God said, I don't know, some hymn. And I put it back in and he said, Luigi, you know what that is? I said, yeah, it's God stuff. Then he said, no, it's a hymn book. I know, it's about him. And then he goes, no, it's songs. Oh, these are God songs. That's great. I did it to him every day for a whole year. He never witnessed to me. He never witnessed to me. That was God trying to get me saved way back. Way back when. Instead, I think it saved in Montreal because they wouldn't witness to me. Didn't say a word. Bad witness. She may be saved. He may be saved. Not friendly to the Lord. They're not being the Lord's friends. God gave them a glorious opportunity to witness and they just shunned it. They refused to be friendly to the Lord. Are you one of those Christians that always finds an excuse not to witness? Oh, preacher, it's too hot to go out and save souls today. I'm glad Jesus didn't think it was too hot to endure hell for you. I mean, okay, if you're sick, don't be a fool and go out there and die. But the thing is, you young guys have no excuse. It's too hot, I'm going to sweat. Jesus went to hell. It's a lot harder there to save your soul. Back home in Canada, it's too cold to go out door knocking. Luigi, come on, Luigi. God's gracious. He understands. He understands that sinners are still going to hell when it's cold. But it's not too cold to play two hours of hockey and go downhill skiing. That's okay. It's perfect weather for that. But not soul winning. Can't do that. Oh yeah, but Luigi, I can't carry tracks around with me. I can't put them in my... It doesn't look good sticking out of the pocket here. I'm trying to look good. I want to look good for... For who? Who do you want to look good for? Oh, I can't put the tracks in my back pocket. It's not comfortable. Well, you know what? You can get small tracks. Small tracks fit right good in there. Fit right good in here. And you can hand them out. Or, better yet, you can think of the Lord on the cross. Amen? Do you think it was comfortable for Him to have those nails put in His hands and His feet? Do you think it was comfortable for Him to put the crown of thorns on His head, and the spear on His side, and to get a savage beating for you? Just think about that next time you don't want to carry them. And by the way, ladies, you say, well, we don't have any pockets. You got something better than we got. You got a purse, amen? I mean, if I could, but I won't, I'd carry a purse, amen? Because I could load that thing up. See, but you're saying, oh, but Luigi, there's too much, too much what? Stuff, right? Get the kitchen sink out of there, lots of room after you take the kitchen sink out. Lots of room for God, lots of room for Jesus in there. It's awful that the mailman could be more devoted to his glorious cause of making sure you get your mail whether it rains or snows. That's terrible that God can actually bring up this mailman who went out passing out the mail when it rained, and you didn't go passing out trash. Well, it's raining, God. Mail went through. How come God's mail didn't go through? Matricians will keep the gospel of salvation to themselves and watch souls for whom their Lord and friend died go straight to hell. Just gonna watch. Sit back and watch. Jesus Christ gave us an empowering promise in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Please turn there with me. Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Power from the Holy Ghost to be witnesses unto our friend to the uttermost part of the earth. We should not be ashamed or afraid to be friendly to our friend by witnessing. The Lord Jesus Christ himself exhorts us in Luke chapter 12 verse 4. And I say unto you, my friends." Let's stop there for a minute. I say unto you, my friends. That's beautiful. Isn't that wonderful? He said, I say unto you, my friends. Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. Listen, we have a friend. We don't have to worry about some other situation, or some other person, or some circumstances. He's in control of all this. What are you afraid of? What you should be fearing is being unfriendly to the Lord Jesus Christ who called you His friend. That's what you should be fearing. You should be fearing being unfriendly to Him. Now let's quickly turn to Exodus chapter 33 verse 11. Exodus chapter 33 and verse 11. So we read here in Exodus chapter 33 verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." Now what I want you to focus on there is it says in that verse that the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Moses was God's friend because he not only obeyed the Lord's commands in confronting Pharaoh, but also humbled himself. He humbled himself. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, we'll read verse 25 and 26. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 25 through 26. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming their approach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. He humbled himself. He could have had the world, but he didn't take it. He said, you know what, God, I'll take you. I'll take you instead of this. In other words, Moses was not a friend of the world. Now turn with me to James chapter 4 verse 4. James chapter 4 and verse 4. It says here in James chapter 4 verse 4, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. That's pretty clear. That verse is very clear on you being friends with one or the other, not both. Pilate tried to be the friend of both, but ended up choosing Caesar as his friend in John chapter 19, verse 12. What about you? You will pick one or the other. You won't have both. Eventually, you will pick one or the other, and you'll do the same mistake as Pilate. You fool with that world, it will allure you. And you will pick that world over your friend, Jesus Christ. Christians are experts, or at least they think they are experts, at doing spiritual splits. One foot in the world, one foot in the church. Standing on the fence is a dangerous activity to be involved in. Standing on that fence is dangerous. God's going to pull this way, and the devil's going to pull that way, and if you're on a fence and you're going like this, it's a dangerous position to be in. And now, Exodus chapter 33 verse 11 also shows us that Moses' prayer life was a time of friendly fellowship with the Lord. This is important now. We always talk about it. I'll pray. I'm going to pray for you. Pray, pray, pray. He wasn't like the man in Proverbs chapter 19 verse 6 and 7. Please turn with me there. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 6 and 7. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 6 and 7. Many will entreat the favor of the prince, the prince of peace. And every man is a friend to him that giveth gift. All the brethren of the poor do hate him. How much more do his friends go far from him? He pursueth them with words, the Bible. Yet they are wanting to him. In other words, Moses didn't only go to God for gifts and things, but rather because he enjoyed the fellowship with his friend. And didn't, as the verse says, go far from him when he didn't get things his way. Moses wasn't even allowed to go to the promised land. After enduring all that he endured, he couldn't go to the promised land. Listen, a lot of you would be in a huff. Okay, God, if you're going to act like that, I'm just not going to go to church anymore. I'm not going to serve you. That didn't concern Moses. He had friendly fellowship with the Lord. He was concerned what he wanted. He wasn't concerned what he wanted. He was concerned what God wanted. Friendly fellowship, not a list of gifts and things. Oh, God, give me this and I'll go to church. God, give me that and I'll serve you. God, give me that. That's not friendly fellowship. How about your prayers? Moses didn't spend the majority of his time in prayer asking God for worldly things for himself or others. No, he spent his time before the throne of God, interceding for others like his nation Israel. That's where he spent most of his time. Students often pray, God, please, I got a real important examination. And while they're praying to pass the examination, all their classmates are going to hell. Amen. I mean, there's no problem praying for the examination, but what about the classmates? You can pray for them too. And if you're a teacher here, you've got a list of the students in your class, don't you? You pray for them? Amen? If Moses was in that class, or in that place of work, or in that neighborhood, or amongst those students, he'd be praying for them. Why? Because he has friendly fellowship with the Lord. He's being friendly to his friend. He's not so concerned about him. While you are fervently praying for that examination, the rest of the whole class is going straight to hell. Do you pray for your classmates? Workmates? Neighbors? You pray for your friends. You pray for your family. That's what Moses would do. Moses didn't have his mind on the things of the world and how to get ahead in this world. His mind was on his friend. That's why God could speak to Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. They desired the same things. They were going in the same direction. People become friends with each other because they desire the same things and they're going in the same direction. That's when you can become friends with somebody. You're never a friend with somebody who doesn't want to do the things you want to do. You better get in line with God and be a yoke fellow with God. Do you desire the things that God desires? Are you heading in the same direction as God's heading in? If you are, then you're being friendly to the Lord. If you're not, then you're disobeying Him. You're not being friendly to the Lord. Which brings me to Abraham. who is said to be the friend of God in James chapter 2 verse 23 and more emphatically declared in 2nd Chronicles chapter 20 verse 7 as Abraham thy friend forever. Why? That's pretty impressive. These are impressive statements made about Abraham. Why? Why were these statements made about Abraham? God knew that faithful and obedient Abraham would do anything, go anywhere and let go of anything God told him to. He knew that. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8. We read here in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8, At the request of God his friend, Abraham left the comfortable surrounding of his home to go to a land he didn't know. And now turn to Genesis chapter 22 verse 2. It didn't stop there. Faithful Abraham was going to continue showing himself friendly to the Lord. In Genesis chapter 22 verse 2, when he gets in this land he knows nothing about, this is what he says. This is what God asked him to do. Genesis 22 2, and he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. When he finally arrived in this land he knew nothing about, Abraham was willing to go as far as sacrificing his only son Isaac, the thing he loved the most in order to be friendly to his friend. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 90% of all ordained preachers preached to 5% of the population of planet Earth. Now, maybe God orchestrated it that way, I don't know. But I don't know if that's what the Spirit of God meant when he penned the words, 90%? Only 5% of the population? I think amongst that 90%, somebody's being an advisor. Somebody's serving God as an advisor. Some of you are probably thinking, well, this is part of the world, I'll stay right here. Well, amen, that's good if God wants you here, amen. What if God wants you elsewhere? Would you be friendly enough to go? When I was lost and I knew I was going to hell, I reasoned things out and I said, I'm a sinner. There has to be a hell or there's no such thing as justice. That means I could do anything I want in this world and I won't pay for it. There has to be a hell. And I came to that conclusion, I said, I'm going. If there's a hell, I'm a perfect candidate. I was going to do anything possible to avoid hell. Anything, I don't care what it was. I would recycle. I'd support Greenpeace. I even supported the Canadian Bible Society monthly, $50 a month, just trying to avoid going to hell. And then my friend Jamie, who was in the Canadian military, called me up back then, and he said, Luigi, I was not saved yet. He said, he was saved, but he was in the Worldwide Church of God, a bit mixed up. He called me up and said, Luigi, I'm going AWOL from the military and I'm going to preach the gospel in Africa. Are you going to come with me?" I said, all right, all right, sounds good. Sounds great. Okay, I'll set it all up. I called travel agencies. I had an itinerary ready. I had all my credit cards all lined up, ready to max them all out and go to Africa to preach the gospel. I didn't even know. I got in front of my idols in my Little Ridges corner and I said, God, I'm going to Africa to preach the gospel. I'm going to Africa with Jamie who's going to preach the gospel. And I thought God was going to say, great job, good stuff. You don't have to go to hell anymore. See, I was willing to do that before I was saved. Because my carnal friend was going there. Listen, Jesus will go wherever he tells you to go. He's going to go with you, amen? You don't have to be afraid of what he tells you to do. You should go with Jesus. Count Zinzendorf became the financial arm of the Moravian missionary movement years ago when he realized the following, if Christ be God and God be Christ, then I must go. You have to. Some of you are probably thinking, well, I'll wait for retirement and then I'll go. Or perhaps you're thinking, I'll wait until I'm debt free and married and then I'll go. That last hesitation was my personal one. I'll wait until I'm debt free. It wasn't my bright idea to go to China single. and in debt. In fact, it wasn't my bright idea to go to China at all. But I wanted to be friendly to my friend for once. At least once. I wanted to be friendly to him and I went. When I got to where God wanted me, souls were saved, men and families were built up, my debts got paid, and the Lord provided me with a wife that even if I tried, I could never reproduce a lady like Sabrina in my dreams. Like I said before, I tried, it was a nightmare, it was terrible. I said, God, you better take care of this, because I'm making a mess of it. Now having said that, please keep in mind that Satan rushes men, but God leads them. Don't be a fool. You don't have to wait as long as I did. But the thing is, make sure it's God. Not just your emotions, flipping you around, throwing you around in the world. I remember it was Dr. Greg Estep. In one of his courses, I forget which one, he said to all the students there, he said, now listen students, don't be a bunch of fools. Don't go out on faith and end up on welfare. That's what he said. I mean, you got all these charismatics running around, faith, faith, faith, and all this stuff, and it spills over. And people start doing crazy and strange things. So listen, Satan rushes men, but God leads them. God led me into the place of blessing because I was friendly enough to go where and when He asked me to. Don't be a fool and rush into anything and then blame God when it doesn't work. Wait for God to go with you and to go before you. Are you willing, like Abraham was, to let go of that thought, that object, that person you love the most, in order to be friendly to your friend? Listen, you can't keep whatever it is that you love, but God can keep it for you like He did Isaac for Abraham. And make it even better if you let it go. In Canada, we like hockey. In fact, I have to say, we love hockey. And there was a playoff, a very important series of playoffs in hockey. And I wanted to watch this playoff series. It was a really good one. And then the phone rang. And it was my cousin. My cousin said, Luigi, I heard you know the Bible. Joe's Witness has been coming to my house. Can you please come over? Yeah, sure, I'd love to. When? Tonight. Well, how about tomorrow night? No, tomorrow night I got to work. Well, are you sure you're free tonight? You're not watching the game? It's a very important game. Oh, well, look, I need you to tell me about. I said, OK, I'll come over tonight. Then I got on my knees and said, God, please, look, that's a really good game. I know it's just a foolish game, but it's a good one. And so, God, you've got to do something here, because I'm giving this thing up. I went over there and three of my cousins got saved. Because I gave up some foolish hockey game. Now, if you are willing to let go of something you love for your friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, He will be able to do something great for His glory with you. So I'm going to stop here, even though there's a few more points here. I'm going to stop right here. There's many ways to be friendly to your friend, but I want to say this one thing before I close. We're going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ someday, and we're going to give an account of ourselves to God. And I do not want to hear, and I'm terrified of the possibility of hearing when I'm walking up to Jesus and He says, Friend, betrayest thou me with a kiss? There's a lot of us in our life as Christians, we've betrayed Him with a kiss. Lip service. Oh yeah, I'm going to pray for you and all that stuff. I'm going to come to church and... How many times have we betrayed God? Jesus Christ, our friend, with a kiss. We better make sure that's all cleaned up before the rapture takes place or we pass on into eternity naturally. Because it'll be a sad day when you have to explain to God why you betrayed Him with a kiss. The judgmency of Christ will determine what you were. here on this earth, a brother, like many others, or a friend to Jesus who deserves your friendship.