My Favorite Story, June 7th, 2026

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ All right, well, Fellowship West Little Rock, good morning. And even those who would be joining us online or in the chapel, so many of you helped pioneer this place called Fellowship. We're grateful for your faithfulness. And the 10 of the best years of my life were here, in this room, on this campus. I'm so grateful for Fellowship. And honestly, when we showed up from Texas, my kids were six, four, and two. And then it's a little bit of time has gone since then. And so now they're 24 and married and 23 and 20 and 15. And so that's us. And a lot has grown in the last 18 years, but I'm still at the church that I love. And so this whole strategy of planting campuses. And eight years ago, we went out and planted the Midtown Campus. But the fact that teaching pastors are here, they're also there, it's working. The Lord is working outside of these walls, but it's really good to be back and to see his faithfulness. And so many of you who invested in us and our family, and you're still walking with the Lord faithfully. So thank you for letting me be here with you guys today.

If you have a Bible with you, 1 Samuel 18. We're gonna start, and here's the deal. We have this, my favorite story. And what we're gonna say today is a story of David and Jonathan. And David and Jonathan is a story of friendship. It's not a manual on that. It's just we're gonna look at their life and probably take some things from that. But we're gonna do, since it's a story, we're gonna have four acts. So when they meet, some things that happen in the middle, and the conflict, and the resolution, and then even at the end of their friendship is where we're gonna be going today. And I'll just make this confession. This has not always been my favorite story. It is now. But I don't know for you, you might have a plethora of friends. When we moved to Little Rock, there were people who had high school, like they had lived here their whole life, and they had more friends than they knew what to do with. Like they had to schedule them out on the days. And that's just not been my problem. Actually, I think it was my junior year was the very first time I looked around, and everybody else had their people, and they had their friends.

And I was like, well, they're just weird. And then I had this realization, like everybody has their people, but me, like, maybe I'm the weird one, right? I'm the one who doesn't have a group. And I thought maybe for a second, well, that's because I gave my life to the Lord, I'm spiritual, and they're not. No, I think I was just weird. And I didn't peak until maybe college or later on. And I just wonder if that's for you, that I probably had more of my life without deep friendships than I have had them, but that's become a very, very precious part of my life is friendships. And so I was drawn to this story of David and Jonathan as we look at this today. So 1 Samuel 18 is where we're gonna begin. We'll read through the story. It's gonna span about five different chapters, actually 16 chapters, but five different chapters we'll discuss today. I wonder today, if you're able to, would you stand? This is not in my honor. But maybe just to remind ourselves, this is not just a story. This is not just a book. This is the Word of God. It's living and active, sharper than the two-edged sword. And if the Lord is speaking today, we wanna hear it.

So let's read and let's start off the story. 1 Samuel 18, verse one, it says, as soon as David had finished speaking to Saul, the son of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of his robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt. I wonder if you'll close your eyes for just a moment. Would you just, like he can hear your thoughts, would you just ask the Lord to speak to you today? Maybe just tell him that you don't wanna miss anything he has for you today. God, today we have your Holy Word. Your Holy Spirit would enable our hearts to hear and our ears to hear, to take away whatever distractions. And whatever you wanna show us today, Lord, I pray that we would get, it would be loud and clear, that Lord, if you wanna speak to the people here today, then Lord, we say, speak for your servants are listening. We ask for your help and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You guys can go ahead and be seated. All right, well, let me just tell you where we are in the story. Chapter 17 is David and Goliath. And so there's a chapter there, he does the sling,

and then he cuts his head off. And if you read through the story, which I would encourage you to do. Think David's really excited because he carries his head around wherever he goes I mean he goes and he changes and he takes off his armor and Saul calls him and he shows up with Saul and he He's got I mean, he's like he's there and he's answering these questions He's just had his biggest moment and that's what in verse chapter 18 verse 1 as soon as he gets done talking with Saul It says as soon as he finished speaking to Saul The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul Have you ever had that happen to you like you meet somebody at work and it's a new co-worker and you're like My soul is knit to yours. I Love you as I love myself maybe there's some translation things 3,000 years later, but somehow there's this instant connection between David and Jonathan and right off the bat there's commitment He says then Jonathan verse 3 made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul That he stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even a sword and his Bow and his belts. All right, so they're they're they're committing this covenant or commitment like from the very get-go They just met but somehow their souls are knit together. They have this covenant and they're exchanging some items And so his royal robe Some of like his bow his sword and he would give those and if you look up some of those it was common in covenants to pass something each Each commentator would say something different So I don't want to try to make it something that it's not but he would give him a sword I just happened one of my staff members has this in his office Why would you give somebody your sword One time When I worked with junior high students This was part of the curriculum and it was a plastic sword, but I just handed this person a sword I was like, why would what would you do with a sword and he like came at me?

I mean like his first instinct the student was like And we were talking about David and Jonathan and you're like man. I thought he would defend me Oh, no, like first thing was just he was gonna lunge me through and and I guess really that's That's really the risk in it all like if you were really to give somebody your sword You were to be vulnerable and say here's where I'm weak. Here's where I have fallen. Here's my story Here's the parts that other people don't know of me. Then. Yeah, they can defend you That they can sense maybe when you're tired when they're walking along the journey when to come alongside when to prop you up when to pray For you when to come and fight for you Or they could use that as ammo and they could attack you and sabotage you but that's the risk of Opening up yourself and letting yourself be really known amongst some friends And it was a risk that this giant slayer David and Jonathan were willing to to make There's a scripture it's in Ecclesiastes chapter 4 it would speak to this and it says two are better than one Because they have a good return on their labor if either one of them falls down Then one can help the other up but pity the one who falls and has no one to help him up So two are better than one Jonathan and David they would admit to that They believe that and here's why when you're walking with somebody else and you fall that that's embarrassing But at least you have somebody to help you up and to fight for you Pity the man the one who has no one to help them up Two are better than one and Jonathan and David would find that and I just wonder for you Do you know that two are better than one? Have you entrusted yourself to others? Maybe that was high school or college for you and now you're grown or you're adult or you're a senior like Not In the past I'm saying now because the enemy roars around like a roaring lion Right seeking whom he may devour like who who would fight for you who would walk with you in this thing called life It's not meant to do alone. And I just wonder have you handed your sword you've been vulnerable You've shared your story your weaknesses so that others can fight along for you Well, that's how the story starts with David and Jonathan. That's act one for act two We're gonna go forward to chapter 20 Chapter 20 now David and Jonathan, they're fast friends and they're they're doing just fine. There's just one little problem

And that's Jonathan's dad's a murderer Right, and he wants to murder David and him and his army And so that becomes quite problematic if you're gonna have a sleepover or if you're gonna go to dinner with your friends that's That that's where we are. And so let's let's just look at this the situation act two Chapter 20 it says this then David fled from Naoth and Rama and came and said before Jonathan What have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before your father that he seeks my life and he said no No far be it from me You shall not die behold My father does neither either great or small without disclosing it to me and why should my Father, hide this from me, it is not so. Jonathan is in denial about who his dad is and what he's doing. But David vowed again, saying, your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord lives, as my soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. Then Jonathan said to David, whatever you say, I will do. At first, he's like, come on, come on, you're overplaying this, David. I mean, my dad, you don't know him, and he's like, no, no, I do know him, and he's throwing a spear at me, and he's trying to kill me. Finally, Jonathan comes to that, and he commits himself to Jonathan, I mean, to David. Many times, you hear this saying

that blood is thicker than water, not here. Actually, he's gonna be committed to David and not to his father, not to his royal lineage. He's committed to him, and then, when he says, whatever it is, whatever you say, I will do for you, now David's gonna tell him a plan, all right? David has a plan to save his own life, and you're gonna see that played out. Before we get there, it'll start in 24, but I just wanna say two things. As you're reading through this this week, we don't have enough time. You're gonna miss plenty of things, so verse 16, I wanna just hit on a couple highlights, and then you can read this later this week, but verse 16, there's something interesting before this plan unfolds. It says, and Jonathan made a covenant at the house of David, saying, may the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies. So there's that word again. Jonathan made another covenant, another commitment, with not just David, but the house of David, him and his family, him and his descendants, and he said, may the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies. Who's David's enemy right now? Yeah, Jonathan's dad. So here's my question for you.

This word, and it's gonna come up two more times today. They keep making covenants and commitments, so what does that look like for you if you were to make a covenant with a friend? When I was in elementary, I don't know if it's still a thing, but there was something called blood brothers. So when we were hanging out in the apartment complex and we would move every couple years, people were like, hey, if you're in, we'll be blood brothers, which means you cut yourself, and they cut themselves, and you mix blood. Horrible idea for hepatitis and Ebola and HIV and all of those things, but at seven-year-olds, we felt like men. We had just made a covenant to each other for that week or for however long. I mean, that's how we did it, but how would we do that even today? I mean, can you imagine meeting somebody at work and being like, hey, can we make this official? Can we be friends? I mean, you and me forever? I mean, here, sign on the dotted line. That sounds quite desperate, weird. Maybe it sounded fine here. What does it look like to be committed to a group of friends? Before you knock it,

think about the most significant things in your life usually come because of commitment, your commitment to your spouse or to your family or to your kids or to your parents. Like, there's just faithfulness because you're committed to them for life, and sometimes the most significant things happen as a result of that, but then we get into a friendship, no commitment at all, and yet we want it to be the most significant life-giving thing ever, and maybe we're missing something. Maybe David and Jonathan were onto something by making these covenants and committing, saying, I'm with you. What would that look like today if you were to make a covenant with some other people? Maybe one that's a little bit extreme, but there were some students who were FSM students back in the day, and now they're all grown and they have kids, and they're thinking of buying one plot of land with four houses in the same backyard, and as long as they live, they're gonna do life together. It's coming into the works. There's a group who was here 10 years ago before they came to Midtown. They live in Midtown,

but they just said, hey, unless the Lord moves us out of the city, as long as we're in the city, we're committed to each other. We're committed to raising our kids together, then playing sports together, being there for each other, and 10 years later, they're still at it, and devil's advocate, you might be like, well, that sounds like a holy huddle, and it might be, but not really. They're tight and they're close, and they fight for each other, but they also, listen, they're like this power center, and then they go out and they minister in our city and to others, and they lead people to the Lord, and they disciple them, so they're stronger. Like two is better than one. That's what they do, and I just wonder, what if some people that you're friends with, what if you were just to declare, we're committed to you. Unless the Lord ever moves us out of this city, we are committed to you. That's what David and Jonathan did, and you'll just see this word again and again, covenant, come up.

There's one other thing I wanna just highlight, verse 17, it says, and Jonathan made David swear, again, by his love for him, that he loved him as he loved his own. There's a lot of sappiness here. It says that they loved each other, they were knit together for their own sake. sold love for him. They made him swear his love for him as he loved him as his own. There's a time at the end, they kiss. They love each other more than even a female is what it says. And if you go on social media or you look, there's a lot of people and they want this to, they make this say whatever they want it to say. And so if you were to put this in the context of 2026 in America, then they would say, well, they were same-sex attracted. This is actually a sexual relationship. But that's not what the scriptures say. If it is, then we would deal with it. It doesn't say that. We have a friendship. And sometimes in our culture, we don't know what to do with a close relationship between two guys or two ladies that's not sexual. But could it be, let me just ask you for a moment, could it be that maybe this culture is different

than America in 2026, 3,000 years ago? Let me ask you a question. If you think about when you've gone to another country, the very first time I went to another country, I was 12 years old, I went to Mexico. And when I went to Mexico, first thing we were introduced to this family, I was 12, they had a daughter who was 16. She came and when they said, hello, she just kissed me. I mean, like, viva la Mexico. I mean, I was like, I don't know. I don't know why she just did that. And she picked me out and then I started watching. And you know what they do there is when you greet, you kiss, like both people kiss cheeks, but I'm just sitting there like receiving it and going like, this is amazing, because I didn't know. And even guys, like, it's a much more affectionate culture. Not only that, if you were to go to Kenya, we have actually a team right now who's there in Kenya. You'll walk, if you're walking down the streets, you'll sometimes, you don't usually see a man and a woman holding hands or showing a public display of affection. But you'll see two guys, teenagers, just walking down, right? And I asked one time, I like, oh, they're just good friends. Guys and girls, they'll hold hands and walk. And it's not a thing there.

It is here, but it's not there. Ethiopia, we have a family from Ethiopia at Midtown. And they were telling me, Haile was just telling me that what they do in their culture, he, like his kids are getting older, he still feeds them and their wife. Like, if you were to go to an Ethiopian's house and you were trusted, they would feed you. Now pause, if you're watching a show and people start feeding each other and you have kids in the room, like you're getting ready, right, to fast forward it because it might get a little spicy. All right, feeding somebody else, we just naturally go there. That's just commonplace closeness, plutonic closeness in other countries. Could it be that this is a different culture? So when it talks about all these things, loving them as their own, souls being knit together, kissed. Just wanna address that because many people will try to say things that aren't here in the scriptures. So, that being said, let's read about this plan that David has concocted and let's see if it works. Verse 24, so David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon festival came, the king sat down to eat food. He sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite and Abner sat by Saul's side

and David's place was empty. Yet Saul did not say anything that first day for he thought something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. Okay, so there's this really big festival, a new moon festival, right? And if you're invited by the king, you show up and David's just not there. He gets grace that first time and it just goes on. It says, but on the second day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty and Saul asked Jonathan, why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today? Now pause, how do you read that question? Is that Saul missing David? Man, I wish David would be here. Is it passive aggressive? Is it loaded? Why hasn't David been here? Verse 28, Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave to me to go to Bethlehem for he said, let me go for my clan holds a sacrifice in the city and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers. For this reason, he has not come to the king's table. Get ready. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. And he said, you son of a perverse, rebellious woman.

Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore, send him to me for he will surely die. Then Jonathan answered Saul, his father, why should he be put to death? What has he done? But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew that his father had determined to put David to death. And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month for he was grieved for David. His father had disgraced him. So this plan with David in the field, and just let's see what the reaction of the king is if he's kind of cooled down and he gets all fired up. And actually a really good friend, Jonathan, would take the brunt, he would be cursed, called son of a perverse woman, and even his mother's nakedness, shame. Like you wanna talk about at this festival that's supposed to be joyous, he gets shamed. And not only shamed, he would take a spear and have to evade it, but he would take that for his friend. Think about this for just a moment. He would take the curse of his father, he would even take a spear so that another could go free.

Have you ever heard that story before? Because there's one that would come later, and he would take the wrath that his father had for sin, his name was Jesus, and he would take that on himself, and even what would finally end it would be a spear so that we could have forgiveness and go free. What a picture, what a great friend Jonathan is, and what a picture of the one who sticks closer than a brother. So things have gotten heated, you guys, in scene two. Is there ever resolve? If you'll turn to chapter 23, we're gonna do act three. Starts off so beautiful, it could be a Hallmark movie. Now it comes to action, there's betrayal, there's cursing. Attempted murder, act three is in chapter three. We'll start in verse 15, you're just getting another little snapshot. David saw that Saul had come to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Zip of Horash, and Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horash and strengthened his hand in God. We might be able to put in there, David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life again. Like, listen, that first time, he's trying to kill him, and then there's another time, and then there's another time. This is a continual, and I don't know if you've ever gone through something that's hard and disheartening, but when it passes, that's one thing. When it keeps reoccurring and reoccurring and reoccurring,

it has a cumulative effect, and it starts to weigh on you. Somebody who wants you dead again and again and again. And so this time, because of weariness or whatever else, it says that Jonathan rose and went to David. If you wanna underline that for just a moment, he would go to him. Listen, when you're friends with somebody else, you just show up for them. You make yourself, like, you go over even without an invitation. In the good times and in the bad times, you show up. So I remember 25, two years ago, our 25th anniversary, we had like a little ceremony where we renewed our vows. It was so sweet with my wife and I. Like, it was better than our wedding. After 25 years, we knew what we were getting. We stood there in our living room in front of our kids declaring that, and some of our good friends, you know what they did? Right before the ceremony, I mean, it was just our family, they brought a little wedding cake, and they said, hey, we wanna celebrate with you. These are some of the same friends that not only are there with us in the good time, that would celebrate us in the good times. There was another time years ago when I came out of surgery because of my shoulder, and I got the news that I was gonna have to go that weekend to Maine to go say goodbye to my mother because she was not gonna make it.

And so my world was, and there was a group of friends that I was committed to, and you know what they did so that I could sleep after shoulder surgery? There was already a recliner. I never asked for it in my, like, it just showed up. There were gift cards and DoorDash things that just showed up. There were prayers and texts that just showed up. They didn't ask, they just showed up, much like Jonathan just showed up because David is in distress. And I don't know for you and how you do this, you probably know better than this, but in our culture, sometimes, when somebody's going through something, you text, because you don't wanna get into their personal stuff. Hey, just wanna let you know I'm praying for you. If I can do anything, let me know. Now, pause. Don't do that. If you're their friends, you're saying, hey, you're going through it, so if you have the mental space to think about a plan that I could help you, then instruct me in that. No, no, no, if they're going through something, you show up, you bring whatever you need to bring. You're just friendship like Jonathan. And you know what? It may not be a good time,

but in the chance that it is, you're there. You're there and you're present. And somehow, Jonathan just being there, he's gonna say just a couple things. It says he strengthened his hand in God. Do you have a friend like that? Are you a friend like that? Somebody just shows up, and maybe they don't say anything at all, but just the fact that they're there, you can't stay stuck. I mean, you are encouraged. Do you have somebody that you're picturing that maybe you hope would be a friend of yours? Acts four, you can write that down. There's a story that the disciples, they're being threatened. They just are in custody. They get out, and it says, first thing to do is they go find their friends. And as soon as they start talking to their friends, their friends start praying. They start believing that the Lord's in them. I mean, the place is shaken and they go out and they change the world because two are better than one and their hands were strengthened in God. So that's what's happening here. Go, go to your friends, strengthen their hand in God. Verse 17 says this, and Jonathan said, do not fear for the hand of Saul,

my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. Saul, my father, knows this. And the two of them made a, what? Covenant before the Lord. David remained at Horesh and Jonathan went home. So he's gonna go and strengthen his hand. He's gonna say, do not fear. And did you see what, who is the rightful throne, like heir to the throne? Jonathan, Jonathan, his dad is the king and he's gonna be the king. And he's gonna hand that over to David. Who hands over what is rightfully his, the kingdom to a best friend? He says, you shall be king and I shall be next to you. Like he's okay with it. He's handing the kingdom over. Who does that? You wanna talk about a selflessness that we see in Jonathan? Wow, to have a friend like him. Can you think of another person who would hand over a kingdom, what was rightfully his, for the sake of another? I just, I just, there was a king and it would say this about him. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself, even being obedient to the point of death and death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him, bestowed on him a name that is above every other name that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Yes, there was the one who reigns and he would empty himself of that. And he would take on a cross and he would be crucified. He would be buried and then he would be risen from the dead and he's alive today and he's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And why would he empty himself of those things for a time? So that you can rule and reign with him. Wow, for us, I don't get it. But it's good, it's good. Okay, there we go, act three. We got one more act. Act four, I'll read from 2 Samuel. It's a little bit Shakespearean in a way because Jonathan dies. He and Saul and so much of the army dies and it's only been like 10 years. So David writes this whole lament in 2 Samuel one verse 25 says it this way. How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle.

Jonathan lies slain on your high places and I'm distressed for you. My brother Jonathan, very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing that of even women. How the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war perished. I mean, what a gift. I mean, no one's been tighter than David and Jonathan but it's only been 10 years and so much of that they were separated. Why would the Lord allow this? Some of you in this room, you've had the gift of friendship before, but you moved or that was a long time ago and that's not your story anymore. You might be saying, well, why? Why would you take such a good thing? For many of us in this room, well, why would I not have somebody like a David and Jonathan to get through? Like life is hard enough. Why not give this gift to all of us for all time? What happens if you find yourself at a place without good friends? I was looking at some research in the Pew Research, pretty unbiased. It said that 31% of Americans, 31% of Americans either usually or always feel lonely. Now, maybe that's just all the people out there, right? Because they're not a part of church

and teagrids and all those things. You guys probably don't ever wrestle with that at all. We are like, we've got David and Jonathans all over the place. Or maybe that which is true of those outside of this room are also true inside of this room or in the chapel or online. I've talked with enough men at lunches and they don't have life-giving friends and they could be surrounded. Like there's a lot of people and everyone knows about you, but no one really knows you. I have people all the way from 70 to teenagers and they're going, I would love friendship and I don't have that. So what happens if we find ourself there? If the stats are right, a third of you in this room, you would long to have a friend like a David and Jonathan. Is there any hope from this story that we could have? There's three things on your handout. The very first one I want you to consider. is that friendship with the Lord might be the first invitation. Friendship with the Lord might be the first invitation. I've told you about my life. There's been more times when I haven't had good friends than when I have. And I've tried to wrestle with that. And maybe I have a different perspective now, but in sometimes I'm going,

surely it's not just always me. Maybe it is. Surely, maybe. Here's what I think. I think the Lord has intentionally put me at places where I don't have friends, in seasons, as an invitation for friendship with Him. I don't know where that's at in the scriptures. I just know that there's been plenty of times it should have worked out, or I shouldn't have moved, or whatever it is, and I had great friends, and then I didn't all of a sudden. And as opposed to this being punishment, or I'm just like really weird, or I don't know how to do this, it's almost like the Lord just pushed me aside, just pulls me to Himself. And so as opposed to this posture from the Lord, it's like He's inviting me for friendship with Him. And I just wonder if you have this ache of loneliness to be known, what if it's not a curse? What if it's an invitation that He would call you to Himself? Is that in the scriptures? Psalm 25, 14 says this. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him. And He makes known to them His covenant. Friendship with the Most High, what? He's gonna make known His covenant, His commitment? What a gift. Okay, you might say, well Tim, that's Old Testament,

what about New Testament? Okay, Mark 3, 14, write it down. This is why He calls the disciples to Himself. It says this, He appointed 12 whom He named apostles so that they would be with Him and that He might send them out to preach. Why did Jesus call the 12 disciples? Yeah, they were gonna change the world. He's gonna send them out, but before then. So they would just be with Him. The King of the universe would call them to Himself. John 15, 15, He'll say it very specifically. He says, no longer do I call you servants, for a servant doesn't know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all that I have heard from my Father I've made known to you. Do you see this? He calls His disciples friends. Can you imagine the Most High calling you friend? And maybe that's the invitation. Maybe you've seen this loneliness as maybe something that's wrong with you, or maybe you just don't have the favor of God. And what if it's not a pushing away? What if He's inviting this loneliness that you have so that you would first be friends with Him? That does not happen overnight, but what if He's inviting you into that today? Just this week at midtown, we had a lady, she's in med school, but she grew up going to Mount

and Catholic school, and so she was around stuff all the time, but a friend of hers has been talking to her about the gospel, and she came to us, and she goes, I don't know the presence of God. Y'all keep talking about a relationship with God and the presence of God, I don't know what that is. And so our children's minister just went ahead and said the gospel, and said, you wanna think about it? She's like, I want it, like now, I want that. And this barrier of sin, and confessing Him as Lord, and giving her life to Him, just tears started flowing, and what she's been seeking out, even though she's lived in the city all the time, she is beginning on a journey of a relationship and friendship with the Lord. If you're here today and you do not have a relationship with the Lord, there's an invitation to you. Jesus Christ would die on a cross to pay for the sin and the penalty you deserve, so that if you would confess your sin and follow Him, that He would call you to Himself. If you wanted to do that, at the very bottom of your bulletin, you can write your name and your contact info, you can put, I wanna have a conversation about following Jesus, you can put it in the boxes at the end when you leave, or you can just stop by the connection center. Like this girl, she did not wanna wait, she wanted a relationship with Jesus, and so maybe that's you today, please say yes to that invitation,

but since I've lived here for 10 years in West Little Rock, most of us in this room, we have a relationship with the Lord, but I wonder how surfacy it is. Is it the same as it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago? My friendships, the longer I have them with people, they grow and they grow and they grow, and what if the Lord is calling you more as the invitation to Himself, to know Him well? And maybe the loneliness is not just circumstances, maybe it's a draw and an invitation first to Him. Friendship with the Lord might, first of all, be invitational, second thing, I'll just give us a confession on your handout, it says, fear of rejection might be holding you back. This is what held me back. We moved 2018 from West Little Rock to Midtown, we had friends, we had a cul-de-sac with like 19 kids, it was like Mayberry, it was beautiful, it was amazing, and we moved and we started over. Not long after that, 2020 came and COVID, and I felt like I was back in the second grade. I'm gonna call some people and say, hey, do you wanna be in my group and be friends? And I really was worried about. Rejection, I called a lot of people over this COVID year that I was just like, hey, I'm gonna start a guys group. And I had like seven guys, they just never showed. I mean, like what was there to do during COVID but sit in our homes, right? We were gonna be socially distanced.

I'm like, come on, let's do this together. And they didn't show. Seven of them didn't, but seven of them did. And it forged some friendships that are still today. I just wonder for you, are you fearing rejection? Like with new friendships? And that's why you just kind of keep to career and family or whatever you do. Sometimes I fear rejection. Cause if, like, if you think highly of me from afar, I don't wanna mess that up. If you really knew about my life, you may not think as much of me. If you really knew all the dark side and shadow side. Sometimes if I'm gonna pursue someone, want even a commitment with them, like let's do this thing of being committed to each other. And you hand somebody your sword or you tell them your weaknesses. I mean, they can do anything with that. They might just ghost you. They may just wanna stay on the surface. And so maybe it is for some of us here that rejection. Because of rejection and fear of rejection, we don't ever take the first step of what God has for us. But what's hindering you from friendship? Mine was rejection. And I was crazy that in my mid 40s, I still feel the same way as in high school. There's a blank there for you.

You can maybe name this afternoon. When you look at this again, you can name what it is that's hindering you from what God's calling you to in relationships. The very last one is this, is forging a path to be closer to true friends. Forge a path. I would say it's a path. My middle daughter, she's so funny. She said something that's so profound. She's like, dad, the greatest miracle of Jesus that no one ever talks about is that he had 12 male friends in his 30s, right? I mean, how rare is that? But it's true, a miracle. And I say that for this reason. If you wanna be like Jesus, the four Gospels, he spends most of his time with his friends, his disciples. Like four Gospels and there's these 12, there's these 17, like there's these people who are close, dear friends of his. Even when you think about, I mean, David and Goliath gets one chapter, yet David and Jonathan spans over 16. That's a lot of real estate in here. And maybe God is trying to tell us something about friendships. And they don't always start overnight, but I just wonder if much like Jesus,

Jesus had Sabbath and he did fasting and he did praying and he did friendships. But what if you just started committing yourself as you're learning to grow and to pray and to read the word? What if you started going, this is a part of the Christian life and I'm just gonna, the next years, commit myself to friendship. I have a discipline, it's just a one, it's a one hour conversation with a friend each week. I don't go without it. And many times there's many of those, but just an hour long conversation with a friend. It's just a discipline. Like when I pray or Sabbath or anything else like that, it's just one of the parts of following Jesus it's because what he did and what a gift and how much more fun than fasting. I mean, friendship, I mean, you know what I'm saying? I mean, so there's denial and then there's things that are for feasting. And what if just to be more like Jesus, we were to do something like that? Some of you would probably say, well, Tim, you're a pastor. If you're talking about friendships, you're probably gonna mention D groups. Yes, I am. Honestly, the all skate that we're invited into,

I've been in a lot of D groups and some of those are lifelong friends and other ones we journey together for a season and both of them are really good. But for us to ignore the all call, waiting on God to like put a Jonathan right in front of us and not just be a part of community like he called us to. Listen, jump into a group if you're not. Or if you have been in a group for a long time, how about we start taking out our sword and just being real? Let's not waste anybody's time. Like everybody's too busy for that. What if it's a risk? But what if you were just to be really known? That so much so that they would know your weaknesses, they would know your celebrations, that they could fight for you. It's risky. But I just wonder, I wonder. There's just a couple of books because I feel like I've been on a journey for the last eight years and I've read lots of books. And there's no like three little points but Jenny Allen, Find Your People is one. It's just the whole thing's about relationships. There's another one that just finished reading, Justin Whitmell Early, Made for People. And he even talks about covenant friends in there.

There's just ways like not today, but like over the next years, what if you just started, like this is supposed to be a part of our life. It's an invitation from the Lord to do this with people. And what if we were? So the last thing I'll say is this, that feeling of loneliness, that's not very pervasive in my life anymore. About eight years ago, I just started a journey and said, if this is Jesus's life, I'm gonna do this. the same. And I would admit, I think I've initiated a lot more than people have initiated with me. And that's okay. I know that men a lot of times don't know how to initiate or even reciprocate, and that's fine. I know what I wanna be committed to, and I'm just gonna keep showing up and keep showing up and keep showing up. And it's actually one of the most life-giving things about my life now. It's not like I can have amazing friendship with the Lord and time with Him and church can be going well and family can be going well. And yet if I don't have an hour-long conversation with a friend or if I don't ever get to be and celebrate with them, there's like almost a little bit of a hole in my heart

because that's become so much of my life. And I think we're all invited into something like that. David and Jonathan is a beautiful story, a beautiful story that maybe it is that we could live that out on this side of eternity. So I'll ask the band to come on up, and I'd love to pray for the people in this room and in the chapel right now. Even if you're at home, I'd like to pray for you as well too. So let's go before Him. Amen. God, it's been a while since I've been on this campus, but I was here long enough that I'm pretty sure that there's enough people, and it doesn't matter if they're in their 70s or if they're in their early teens, that they long for friendship. And maybe it sounds a little desperate or down to even say that or put that into words, but that's where their heart, there's an ache, there's a longing. And maybe it is that you put that there first as an invitation so that they would know you because you're the one that satisfies. You're the fount of living water that we're longing for. You're the ones who can know us and love us fully. So God, I pray that the people in the room, that they could stop scrolling and they could turn their gaze towards you,

an invitation to be friends with the most high. God, I pray that we would be known as a people who walk with you. So would you do that? Don't let us settle for any surface level, shallow relationship with you. We want all of you, Lord, and we want to know you well. So I pray that that over these people. And I also just pray very practically, some of us in this room, we have been rejected. We don't have friends or our close ones, or we're surrounded by people, but it's not of the same heart and mind. And David and Jonathan feels like a very far cry. So God, would you, would you show us what's next? Would you give courage and faith over rejection? I pray that there would not be a lonely person, a person of need in our midst, because you would begin to meet that. God, would you let community swell up in this place? Let it be a signature of our lives and of our church. This example that you've put in the scriptures, we want to live that out and we don't know exactly how. So if you'll lead or we're listening and we'll obey and follow. Lord, we love you. We just want to abide with you. We want to walk with you and we don't want to miss anything you have for us. So I pray that in Jesus name, amen.

Thanks again for listening to the word of God. We are blessed to reach you throughout the week through whatever platform you're listening on. If you're needing prayer, or you want to talk to someone about your walk with Jesus, reach out to us at fellowshipar.com slash contact. Have a great week.