My Friends Are Better Than Your Friends

So we're kicking off this brand new series today that we're calling simple gospel, simple gospel stories of the good news in action from the gospels in the good book, gospel means this very simply, good news. People talk about preaching the gospel all the time, but I fail to hear oftentimes the good news portion of the gospel. It's all hell, fire and brimstone. And people are like, Oh my gosh. Like, we're going to get you to go to heaven by scaring the hell out of you. Wow. We ain't trying to do that. The Bible says that it's the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. It's the good news of the gospel that leads people to repentance. Gospels I want to go ahead and define for you, just in case you're not familiar with church or the Bible, the Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament. It's the stories of Jesus, life and ministry while here on Earth. That's what the Gospels mean. And then the Good Book is the Bible. We believe that the Bible is, like I said, the inerrant Word of God. We believe that it's inspired by God, written by man, to be used by man today in order to be inspired by God. That's what we believe about the good news, simple gospel stories of the good news in action from the gospels in the good book. Somebody say simple gospel. So let's dive into the Bible today. If you got your Bibles, you can open up to Mark chapter number two. Mark chapter number two, if you don't, that's okay. We'll throw em up on the screens, or, of course, be on your screen here, just real shortly. But Mark chapter two, I want to catch you up just a little bit, give you a little bit of background as to where we're going to dive in. We're going to dive into a story of Jesus. Jesus had begun his ministry already, and he was traveling in this time around the region in Galilee, and he was doing many miracles. He was doing they were seeing signs and wonders. Jesus was doing great things. And when he found his way back home, I'm gonna say home in air quotes, because it wasn't actually his home. It was his home away from home, after his actual home. But when he having heard all right, and that's what's returned, boom, eat a bus Street, street after them for so heard came, come pretty. How many of y'all, you know what I'm talking about? Jesus, yeah, but we're gonna make it. I was like the trucker had to make my little they decided to decrypt any mercy. Or you get you and I are gone the time they look. Man is a forgiven. She right now are because he saw his brother. Has only God has them paralyzed. Man, uh, buddy, but let's try the darkness. The God that I serve is not afraid of a little holiday on October 31 the God that I serve has power over that holiday, but the critics are always going to come out. Religious folks are always going to Who are they to do? I love Jesus. Response this, if it's crazy when you actually read the Bible, because Jesus had a little Jesus had a little gangster in him, he just, he just did. That's just, that's who Jesus was. He says, so this in verse 10, verse 10, I love this. I love this. Look at this. Look at look at this. He says, so I'll prove to you. He said, What do you think is harder? Alright, I'll prove it to you. Prove it. Somebody say, prove it. He said, I'll prove it that the Son of Man has come and has authority to forgive sins on earth. Then he turned to the paralyzed man. He said, Stand up and pick up your mat and go on home. And the man jumped up. He grabbed his mat and he walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, we've never seen anything like this before. Can I tell you that in order to see something you've never seen before, you're going to have to do something you've never done before. You can't be hemmed in by a religious spirit, you can't be hemmed in by fear. You can't be hemmed in by the mess of culture. You gotta be able to stand on the power of God, and it's okay to righteously stand up and say, I'm about to prove this. I. I'm about to prove this. I love this. There were righteous or religious critics, excuse me, even back then, Jesus says, Let me prove it. And then he says, boom. He dropped the mic and walks out with the guy, I love it. Man, I love it. And I can even feel it rough, a little few little religious feathers in here this morning. That's okay. That's okay. I think that's what the Word of God is supposed to do. It's supposed to offend our flesh a little bit, so that we move forward, so that we move I thank God for the times that he offended my flesh and went against the things that I thought I knew, so that I could experience the fullness of what he actually had for me, I'm thankful for that. Somebody say my friends are better than your friends. Look at your other neighbor and say My friends are better than your friends. That's the title of this morning's message. My friends are better than your friends. My friends are better than your friends. I'm here to tell you that godly friends will pursue godly godly things. However, good friends will pursue good things and evil friends will pursue evil things. I don't think the danger for many of us sitting in church today is the fact that we have evil friends. I think the danger for many of us sitting in this room today is the fact that we have good friends, because good friends will push you to good things, but godly friends will push you to godly things. Let me tell you the problem with good. The definition of good has changed over the course of culture, as we continue to progress and as social media gets louder, good things that used to be good are now bad things, and bad things that used to be bad are good. The definition of good has changed. It has shifted. It has become new. But can I tell you about the things of God? The things of God never change. The Bible says that he's the same yesterday, today and forever. And so if you have good friends and good friends alone, I think you're in a more dangerous spot than somebody who has evil friends, because at least you can tell the difference between God and the devil. But when it's good and the godly, it's kind of difficult, and we start to reduce God down to good, rather than good up to God. And it's got to change everybody. There's an author named Jim Collins, and he says that the enemy of great is good. And might I suggest to you this morning, I think good might just be the enemy of God. We've settled in a good life with good friends and good folks and good stuff, and it's not quite what God has for us as culture continues to get more and more radical in the stance as definitions shift those good things are turning bad and bad things are turning good. It's a dangerous day that we're living in. It's time for us to find some godly friends who aren't only who aren't only Godly in title, but they're Godly in fruitfulness as well. How many of y'all know that there are folks that come to church that aren't godly, they just come to church. There are folks that pray but they're not godly. They just pray. There are folks who know the Scripture. The Bible says that the devil knows the Scripture, the demons know the Scripture. Some of us are being bamboozled and tricked into believing that somebody is godly when they're not godly. Well, how do I know if my friends are good or they're godly by the fruitfulness of their lives, not by the title that they put on themselves. Because somebody tell you, Oh yeah, I go to Mercy city. But does the fruitfulness of their life tell you that they're godly or just good? Because the gospel in actions, my friends, will not just produce a title, it will produce fruitfulness, fruitfulness. Let me say fruitfulness. Come on fruitfulness. And when the gospel, when the good news, is in action, there will be a display of fruitfulness. This is a big deal. This is a big deal a display of fruitfulness. Many people in the body of Christ will say, well, it's not my responsibility to judge, and it is certainly not your responsibility to judge, but it is your responsibility to look at the fruitfulness of somebody's life. It, because those who are in God and God in you, the Bible says that his fruit will remain. See you're being mentored by somebody that jumps from church to church to church to church to church to church to church, and their fruit is telling the story, but their antics and their title is tricking you. Somebody can't get planted, somebody can't begin to come under authority that God has placed it established in the church. You don't want them to mentor you. You don't want them speaking into your life. You don't want them giving you wisdom, because there's no display of fruitfulness. There's only a display of them being flippant. Do y'all know how a plant actually grows to full size by staying in the same place being planted? You can't convince me that God used all of these agricultural illustrations all throughout scripture, and he doesn't want us, his sons and daughters, to be planted in a place where that's why we push planting in the local church. I'm going to get off that there will be fruitfulness on display. However, can I tell you that where there is godly fruitfulness, there will also be the fruitfulness of the enemy. There will also be fruitfulness of the enemy, which we see clearly in this portion of Scripture, we see people choosing two very distinct postures in the story. One, a posture of pursuit. The godly friends with the paralyzed man, listen, godly pursuit doesn't mean perfection. This man was paralyzed. His life wasn't perfect. It wasn't all put together. There were areas of pain in him, there were areas of dysfunction in him. There are areas of pain in us. There are areas of dysfunction in us. It doesn't mean that we have to be perfect in order to pursue Jesus. We just have to posture our hearts in a place of pursuit. And the second posture that we see is a posture of pride. James, chapter four, says that when we come close to God, he'll come close to us pursuit, postures our hearts to find God. But in the very same chapter, just a few verses apart, James, chapter four, it also says that God opposes the proud. And I learned many years ago that unhealthy pride is almost always rooted in fear. People that you see that are prideful Probably not because they're that prideful. It's probably because they're really fearful. They're afraid of rejection, they're afraid of disappointment, they're afraid of abandonment, they're afraid of you fill in the blank, they're probably afraid and so what they do is they overcompensate with pride. We must understand that there is a shadow side of the fruitfulness of God, and so you and I are called as believers to be inspectors of fruit. We need to take a look at people's lives. Is there consistency? Is there peace? Is there joy? Is there life? Is there patience? Is there self control? Are there the fruits of the Spirit active in someone's life.  So I think there are three ways that we can identify the gospel in action through producing fruitfulness. Way number one is faith. Somebody say faith, faith will be on display. And when faith is on display, it will alter your pursuit. Faith will always put you in a posture of pursuing the unknown. It'll never make you be stagnant. It will always move you forward into the things of God. You'll hear about the things of God, and you'll want to be there. You'll see the things of God, and you'll want to be around. But not just you be around. Bring those in your life that are not operating in this fruitfulness around too. So let me say my my friends are better than your friends. We need some faith filled friends, everybody. And not only do we need faith filled friends, we need to become faith filled friends for people who don't have the faith yet, because there are some brothers and sisters who are further behind than we are, and so we need to be faithful for them and allow the gospel to. Take Root and fruitfulness to be the actions of our lives. Faith stirs a pursuit. It stirs a trusting that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the things of Jesus are the answer, and that Jesus can use people to do great things, even here and now, in 2024 we can do great things in Jesus here and now. That's what faith says. However, there's a shadow side of faith too, and the shadow side of faith is familiarity. Familiarity reduces people, places or things down to normal. Oh, well, that church on the north side of town, oh, that preacher, oh those city groups, Jesus, he couldn't even go back to his hometown, so he made a new hometown. Who is Jesus to be healing bodies, forgiving sins? We try to reduce it down to normal. We try to put it on a level playing field that we are on. And anytime you reduce the spirituality of Jesus Christ, you discredit His deity. Come on, everybody. Come on. Let's respect and let's honor when we first moved here, the very first thing that we saw was how familiar church culture is, and we try to reduce everything way down. We show up late to church. We show up late to worship. We just call pastor, old buddy. Come on now. Come on now. I don't need you to call me Pastor. You need you to call me Pastor. I don't need you to recognize the spiritual authority on my life. It's here all by itself. You need you to recognize it, just like I needed me to recognize it in my pastors as well. See what we do culturally, though, is we reduce it down, and we try to make it familiar. And when we make it familiar, we suck the faith out of the room. Come on, everybody. We're faith people, we're faith people, we're faith people, and that's fruitfulness of the kingdom. The second thing that we see is forgiveness. When the gospel is in action, we see forgiveness. Forgiveness is fruitfulness of God, and it results in a further pursuit. Forgiveness is always a fruitfulness of the gospel, no matter how wrong somebody's done you, no matter how many times they've stepped on your toes, no matter how many times. It doesn't mean that you invite them back in, but you certainly issue forgiveness. Forgiveness, forgiveness. Forgiveness is a fruitfulness of God. You want to know what the shadow side of forgiveness is, fault finding, blame game, finger pointing, shaming, gossiping, back room, conversationing, side DMing. I let, let me tell you about what Jesus really did in this other town. Let me tell you about what Jesus really did in this other place. Let me talk to you about the way that that city group leader is. Can I just let's put a real spiritual thing on it little send a little message to somebody, and hey, can I pray for you? I heard that you're going through a really tough time. Can I pray for you? Let's meet up. Let me pray for you. Well, I can't believe that your city group would do that. I can't believe that your leader would do that. I can't believe fault finding, not forgiveness but fault, finding people who are acting in the gospel will always move you toward push you toward forgiveness. And I can I tell you something, it's not going to be easy, it might be really hard. It's not going to be easy, it might be really hard, but we don't want to be people who are fault finders. We want to be people who are forgivers, because that shows pursuit number three. Number three. Number three, gospel in action produces this kind of fruitfulness. This is the fruitfulness that we're looking for everybody. We're looking for faith. We're looking for forgiveness, and we're looking for the fullness of life. Did you know that John, chapter 10, verse 10 says, Jesus said, hey, the thief has come to steal, to kill and to destroy, but I've come to give you life to the full. Jesus wants to give us fullness of life, life in abundance. Most of us have areas of abundance in our lives, or maybe areas. It would resemble abundance, but there are other areas that are lacking. See, there are many of us that came in. We are half on the mat, half off. Some of us fully on the mat. Today, you might got a little invite to a child dedication today. That was your friends being better than other friends. So Imma, carry a corner of your mat. I'm going to, I'm going to carry a corner of your mat. I'm going to, I'm going to carry a corner of your mat because I love you, because I believe God for you because I'm trusting the best for you.  You're not here because somebody dislikes you or hates you. You're here today because somebody loves you, because somebody have vision for you, because they know that a God who created you desperately wants relationship with you, who's not going to be angry when you show up with your mess, making your mess, not being able to do anything, is going to Say their faith has made you well, fullness of life. We know what the shadow side of fullness of life is failure to leave. See this is the lie that culture feeds us.
We start owning our sin. We say things like my dysfunction, my divorce, my addiction, my hurt, my mental illness, my broken heart, because the enemy wants to define you by the thing that God calls you above. I'm not saying that those things aren't real. The divorce is real, the mental illness is real, the diagnosis is real, but it's not the mat that God has chosen for you. Don't let culture convince you that that's the mat you have to stay on. Our most difficult relationships with friends over the last several years is us carrying a corner, but they didn't want help. And I go back and I pick up a corner. Pastor Carrie would pick up a corner. Our staff we pick up a corner. We said, No, we're getting to Jesus. We know that Jesus can bring you through this, but that paralyzed person decided that they wanted to fight against the faith.  And at some point we can't fight anymore, because that paralyzed man had to, he had to decide, You know what, I'm gonna trust my friends, I know that they're taking they're gonna put me on display in front of everybody, and I'm gonna be embarrassed, I'm gonna be ashamed, I'm gonna feel bad. But you know what culture has taught us over the last several years, to embrace our weaknesses and to embrace our dysfunction? And I'm not saying that dysfunction isn't real. I got my own, but I'll be doggone if I'm staying on that map. There have been seasons where my pastors have grabbed me and said, Matt, come out from come out from that place. You gotta come up here. There's more for you here. I Today, I'm here to tell you that there are some friends in this room better than the others. My friends are better than yours. Your friends are better than mine. You're here because you got a good friend. You're here because you got a good God. You're here because God's got a plan for you, a destiny for you, and that, my friends, is the simple gospel. The good news is this, Jesus Christ has a plan for you. The shadow side is a failure to leave. There's purpose in our hearts. I'm not staying on this mat and allowing it to carry me anymore, because the reality is I'm supposed to be carrying it, and as I carry my divorce, as I carry my dysfunction, as I carry my mental illness, as I carry all of those things that I said where I'm. Ownership of it in a new way, allowing Jesus to heal it. I'm carrying that mat, and I'm talking about how I grew up in a divorced home. I'm talking about how I wanted to give up on my marriage. I'm talking about my diagnosis. I'm talking about the things and what happens. All of the onlookers look amazed, and they see the goodness of God. They see the gospel in action. That's not just for me. It's for you too. This is the simple gospel, everybody. Some of us came in carrying a mat today. Some of us came in riding on a mat today. I think today is your day to leave carrying that thing Jesus looking at you and saying, because of their faith, you're made whole, you're made whole, you're made whole. You're made whole because of their faith. Listen to me, that's the beauty of the local church, because you don't have to have faith for it. On your own, your friends can surround you. Pick up a little corner of that mat and let's go. Don't fight the friends carrying the map. Let's move forward together.