SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 0:13

Good afternoon. I hope you have the Heavenly Library with you. Let me invite you to take down the book of 1 Samuel. And go to chapter 14, 1 Samuel chapter 14. It's always an honor to be a part of this lectures and it's always an honor to come and hang out with this wonderful family in Christ here at Westside. Thank you so very much for your invitation to be a part of this. Many of you may know that I love camp and I've been a camp director for about 17 years now and I just love it and I encourage every kid to go to camp and it just so happened that one One kid that I'd been after a long time finally came to camp. Now, just give you a little insight into this kid. He was kind of a loner, kind of kept to himself, a little bit bashful, a little bit shy. And let's just say, well, his mother... She flew a helicopter. But I finally got him to come to camp and I was so excited he was there that first day. It was actually also his first time to be with big kids because he was now in high school and so there's a lot of new going on. And so that first day I was just checking on him, seemed to be fine, seemed to be fine, seemed to be fine. The next day got up, checked on him in the morning, seemed to be fine, seemed to be fine. And then all of a sudden about 11 o'clock, that second day of camp, I get this text. Hey, Phil, we're looking for that kid. And I'm like, what do you mean? Well, he's not at his activity. And I'm like, oh, okay. Well, it's probably his first day. So I immediately started going to other activities. Maybe he was there. Maybe he was there. And I looked and looked. Didn't find him. Went into all the other cabins. Still didn't find him. Still didn't find him. Looked at all the ball fields. Still didn't find him. And then I put out the all points bulletin. Be on the lookout. We've lost the camper moment. Never happened. Never happened in camp. And so everybody started looking for this guy. And I'm like, oh, my word. I've been begging him for years to come. I've been begging his mom. And now he's gone. I'm thinking, what am I going to say? I've never lost a kid at camp. All right. And I just so happened to just go running through the cafeteria. Because that's where the little kids were. And they're at a table. With a bunch of little kids. was the missing camper. And he was sitting with a bunch of kids who were a lot like him. You see, I could tell they were all gamers. They didn't have their phone or they didn't have the handheld devices with them at camp. But because they're so used to it and now it's been taken away from them, even when they stand and look at you, their hands just do like this. And they were all just sitting there together talking. And it just hit me.

UNKNOWN: 3:09

Wow!

SPEAKER_01: 3:11

No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what's going on, you always find your people. Your people. I want you to kind of think about that as we go through this lesson. Who are your people? And I want you to think also of a proverb. And I know that you've heard this and you probably have heard it many times before. Whoever walks with the wise... will be wise. But whoever is with the fool will suffer harm. In 1 Samuel chapter 14, we read of a story of a young man who is breaking away and he's left an entire army. Why? They're not his people. And he's run from them because they're hiding. They're supposed to be an army. In fact, they're supposed to be the army of God. But yet they're hiding in their holes and the army of the Philistines is just across a ravine. And while that army of the Philistines is numbered like the sand on the seashore, there's just so many of them, he's still in God's army. He's with the people who crossed the Red Sea. He's with the people who marched around Jericho and the walls fell down. And he is a man of God. But nobody, nobody, nobody on his side is willing to fight. They're hiding. They're not his people. So he's going to sneak away. But he doesn't sneak away alone. 1 Samuel chapter 14 verse 6. Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, Come. Let us go over to the And we will show ourselves to them. And if they say to us, wait until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place and we will not go up to them. But if they say, come up to us, then we will go up. for the Lord has given them into our hand, and this shall be a sign to us. So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, Look, the Hebrews are coming out of their holes where they've hidden themselves. And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and they said, Hey, come up to us. We're going to show you a thing. Let me just stop right there. Anybody ever done that to you? Anybody here have an older brother or an older cousin who said, hey, I want to show you something? That's never, ever a good thing to do, all right? You know that, right? This has been around a long time. Hey, y'all come up here. We want to show you something. And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, come up after me. For the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel. Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet and his armor bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer. He killed them after him. And that first strike which Jonathan and his armor bearer made killed about 20 men. Within it was about a half a furlough length of an acre of land. And there was a panic in the camp. Now, I want you to stop right there, because sometimes it's very important for us to kind of slow down and kind of get what's happening. Did you notice what was said there about Jonathan and his armor bearer? It says they crawled up on their hands and their feet. I want you to notice, if you were to go back to the very beginning of the chapter, The Hebrews are on one side of a ravine hiding. The Philistines are on the other side. But this ravine actually has two names. One of the names in the Hebrew says shiny. The other is thorny. So here's what you and I got to keep in mind. This was a ravine. So imagine you're at Texas camp. All right. And you're looking across, and it's any field in Texas, and he goes down the ravine, comes up the other side. One side is thorny, so it's all these thorny bushes. Can you imagine? The other side is shiny, probably a lot like rocks and clear rocks. But here's the deal. When Jonathan and his armor bearer went to the other side, and they said, come up to them, they had to work their way down through the thorns, and then they had to work their way up the other side, crawling on their hands and knees. I'm not... I'm not a military guy or a tactician who can just stay. But that's not how you go on the attack, right? When you're down below, that's the kill zone, man. What does that say? It says they trusted God. Because their hands weren't on their weapons. Their hands weren't on their swords. They're having to climb through the thorns and then up the other side. But when they got there, they went on the attack. And did you notice, Jonathan went first, and then the armor bearer finished them off. It's as if Jonathan went running, he would make the first blow, and when the enemy was wounded, the armor bearer came in right behind him. They each had each other's six, if you will. But the story doesn't end there. No, it got even much better. Notice, if you would. Verse 16, And the watchmen of Saul, they looked, and behold, the multitude was dispersing here and there. And then Saul said to the people who were with him, Come, we need a count. Who's not with us? And when they had counted, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. So Saul said to Ahijah, Bring the ark. And there was a great confusion. And now the Hebrews... Isn't that something? It's one of those stories that just kind of snuck into the Bible and we don't spend a lot of time on it. But what you find right here in this story... is you find two men who understand if God is for us, who can be against us. And I love exactly what Jonathan says here. Jonathan says, the Lord will deliver them into our hand. But even more so, here's what I want you to see in these two men. They didn't go alone. Why? Because each of them had each other. And with each other, they had something in common. The first thing they had in common is a common mission. You'll notice in verse 1, as well as when you get down into verse 6, let us go ahead. We're warriors. We don't hide. We don't stay in our holes. We go to war. We have a common mission. And then notice what the armor bearer said. Jonathan, you do all that's in your heart because your heart is my heart. We're together heart and soul. They had a common ambition and desire that went deep into their innermost being and then they had action. They went to war. Just the two of them against a full garrison of the Philistines. I want you to grasp and understand that if you and I are going to go to battle in any way, you find your people. You find your people. And godly people are going to have a common mission, a common heart, and a common action. Now, let's jump ahead a few years. In fact, let's even jump ahead just a few chapters in your Bible and go to 1 Samuel 18. Just out of curiosity, has anybody here ever heard the story of David and Goliath? I see about three hands. Who is your preacher? All right, who's heard this story? I can tell you the whole story in about 45 minutes and then get back to my lesson. Or who's heard the story? Yeah. Hey, y'all raise your hands even if you haven't heard it. All right. Well, you know that story. There's one thing. There's one thing about that story that has always troubled me just a little bit. Forgive me. Where was Jonathan? Where was Jonathan? I don't know. Again, it's the exact same scenario. Nobody wanted to go fight. Everybody's hiding again. It's the Philistines. This time it's only one dude who's really to take them on. He is a big dude. But here's what I do know. As soon as David came back, Holding that giant's head. Jonathan goes, that's my people. That's my people. In 1 Samuel chapter 18, when David walks back. It says, Or maybe he was just frustrated with his dad. Come on, dad, you're taller than everybody else. You should be the guy out there. It's about time you did something. I don't know. But I do know this. When David came back, Jonathan was back. Because that's my people. That's my people. Can I ask you a question? Who's your people? Who's your people? Who are the people that motivate you, encourage you? Who are the people that get you up and make you want to run? Who are the people in your life that make you do something like this? To go into something that everybody else would say is impossible, to go into something that seems like can't be won, and yet you go. I want you to grasp and understand that the people of God always have their people if they're looking for them. Go to Psalms chapter 1, if you would, please. The very first psalm, isn't it interesting? The very first psalm focuses on our friendships. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law, He meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by the streams of water. And He yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And in all that He does, He prospers. Yet the wicked are not so. But they're like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. This has been a continuous theme, if we're really looking into Scripture, that we see all through Scripture. Evil companions corrupt good morals. Don't go even near the congregation of the wicked because you'll be tempted to stand. And pretty soon if you stand there, then you're going to sit there. And we see it over and over and over again in Scripture. Just consider a few examples. Think about Eve. Let me just say, I'm not one to be critical. Especially of animals, and I love animals, but if a snake ever talked to me, I'm out. And I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, alright? You got Parseltongue, I'm out! We laugh at that, but the point is, at that time, there was no reason to be scared of a snake. But you and I know how that story went. A lot. Abraham goes, Lot, which place do you want? What do you want? He says, well, I want Sodom. And Sodom was a beautiful place, well watered, great place for huge herds. And he had a lot, a lot, a lot of his herds. And yet it also said this about that place. It was a place of great wickedness. You probably know I work with college students and campers. It's a great joy. I had an interesting conversation a few years back when I was working with some students and I was working with a student and his mom and I said, what's the plan? Well, we're going to go to school over here. And I said, okay, that's great. Go to school over there. I said, well, or where are you going to live? We're going to live in the dorms. I said, okay, that's great. Well, who's your roommate? Oh, we're going potluck. I went potluck. You mean, first of all, you're going to go to a place and go to a school that is very challenging, it's off the beaten path, certainly in a spiritual way, in a moral way, and you're going to go potluck? I was like, have you ever read the story of Lot? I know that may sound a little heavy, but at what point does that story apply to us, folks? You know the rest of that story. The Israelites. What was it that Moses would say to the Israelites? Catch this. Don't follow the crowd. You thought your mom came up with that phrase. It was Moses. Don't follow the crowd. Think of Samson. Do you remember Samson was choosing a wife? He said, hey, I saw this chick. It's probably not the correct Hebrew way of saying it, but I saw this woman. All right. She looks great. Mom and dad, get her for me. And his parents go, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? Oh, she's great. You know anything about her character? No, she's just smoking hot. What else do you need? Right? I was doing a teen weekend once. Oh, this was... You have these moments in your life where you think you're brilliant, but then you quickly find out how you're not even close to that. I came up with this idea. I said, all right, here's what I want you to do. And I said, I put the girls on this side of the room, but the guys on this side of the room. I said, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go, you define in all the words you can, the perfect spouse. And man, the girls took off. And they had a whiteboard on this side of the room, and the guys were on this side of the room. About ten minutes later, I mean, the girls' whiteboard was filled. And so I started with the girls. Tell me who has the perfect spouse. Okay, here's number one, Mr. Phil. A godly man who loves the Lord, who teaches class, loves his children, loves his wife, even does things around the house, and is one body who loves the Lord even more than he loves me. That's one. And then they went number two. I was like, man, I'm the greatest teacher in the world. This is awesome. All right, guys, what do you got? And I got to their whiteboard and it was a little spacious. I was like, what you got, guys? And they said, well, we didn't really feel like we needed to write it all down. Okay, well, what you got? What you got? I said, what's number one? They said, she's smoking hot. I was like, okay. What's number two? And they just looked at me. I said, you got a number two? Anything? Anything? This one little kid, he was in middle school. He goes, she can cook biscuits? All right, smoking hot can cook biscuits. I'm the worst teacher in the world. But that's Samson. We laugh at that, but that's Instagram. That's social media. That's a lot of people I know. How'd that end for you, Samson? Oh, you thought I was talking about Delilah. That was the woman at Timnah. And then Delilah happened again later. How about Solomon? How'd he do? David. I've often wondered, would David have done what he did with Bathsheba if Jonathan was still around? He was all alone. Even the apostle Peter will deny the Lord three times. You know what, everybody, everybody, don't miss this. Every person who has left the Lord has this one thing in common. Every single one of them. Bad friends. Everyone. Oh, there may be different trials. There may be different issues. There may be finances. There may be a lot of other things that you know. But every single one of them have that in common. And you see that in Scripture. But in the same way, what you also see is that all those who strive to serve the Lord and serve the Lord with vigor and look for someone who has that common mission, that common heart, and that common action, they all have something in common as well. They have surrounded themselves with godly people. Alright, just real quick before I get into this list. Is anybody here an annoying person? And you can point at them. Yes. All right. If you are annoying, you know, you have a verse that's just for you. Did you know that? You'll love this. In Hebrews chapter 10 and in verse 23, we always go to verse 25. Don't forsake the assembly. And we talk about how you need to be at church. And I get that. That's certainly something that could be applied to that passage. But you know what it says? Why you go to church? Because you and I need to be around annoying people. That's right. That's right. Stir up one another to love in good works. The word stir in the Greek actually means to annoy. But it's not the annoying that just gets on the nerves. It's the annoying who actually motivates you, encourages you, moves you. They're the kind of person that you get around and you realize, I got to go. I can't sit here and do nothing. I don't want to just sit here in front of them because they're the kind of person that makes me want to run through a brick wall. And I tell you what, there's a lot of people like that in this room. And God bless you for being a stirrer. Because we need people in our lives who make us move. Noah. Noah wasn't alone. He had his wife and three sons. And you know what's amazing about that story? He had three daughters-in-law. Those are some amazing women. Think about it. Moses. He had Joshua, Jethro, and Aaron. Elijah had Elisha. Daniel. And tip of the hat, please, to Brother Tyler for calling them by their real names. Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael. Cornelius, the first Gentile prophet. To follow Christ. Immediately had all of his relatives and his close friends. Paul has Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy. And even Jesus himself had his apostles. So here's what you and I need to put in our backpack. This is your take home. You and I need to put in our backpack. A Rolodex. I showed my age there on that one. There's only about 10 of us who know what a Rolodex is. If y'all go to the Smithsonian and you go to the real old section back there, you know, with Paul Revere and Abraham Lincoln's hat and all that stuff, you're going to see a little file thing that's on a little roller thing. It has all these cards in it. It was called a Rolodex. Now you can call it your contact list. I'll call it your board of directors. Because every single one of us, no matter our age, need a godly board of directors. You and I need people in our life who stir us and motivate us. You and I need people in our life who have that common mission, that common heart, that common action. We need people in our lives. Because as the proverb says, whoever walks with the wise will be wise. So who do you have in your life that's actually on your board of directors? Now, I know that may sound like an odd way to say it, but here's the way it works. And this is something I've encouraged my kids to do and all the kids at camp and all the kids that come and worship with us at Valrico and all the kids at Florida College that hang around with me. You've got to have people in your life who in every area of your life help you succeed, but not just succeed. monetarily or with your career, but help you exceed in that portion of your life in a strong spiritual way. For example, the very first board person you need at that table with you is somebody who's going to be there because they've been in that same career path that you've chosen is about 20, 22 years ago. When I was trying to decide, okay, do I want to go into full-time preaching or do I stay in the job that I was doing and preaching part-time? And I called a friend of mine. You probably have heard of him. His name is Dee Bowman. Because I felt D can understand. He and I both had this same kind of career path. And so I called D and I was expecting D to give me this long, wise, really thought out, here's what you need to do and think about, Phil, kind of an explanation. And when I told D, I said, D, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about quitting this profession and I'm really thinking about really focusing on preaching. How would you go about that? What would you do? How long would you take? And this, that, and the other. And when I finally shut up, D goes, well, Phil, It seems to me you've had your fun. It's time for you to get to work. Is that it? Yeah, you need to start preaching. He may not be with us physically anymore. But he still sits on my board of directors. Because I know what he would say. You need somebody in your life to guide you in relationships. Caleb kind of hinted at this the other night with his lesson. I thought it was perfect because this is something we see every year at camp. It's so much fun. There comes a point in every guy's life where girls become beautiful. They're no longer... And it's fun to watch that transition because it usually happens when they're about 13, maybe 14. Maybe they're a late bloomer, it's 15 or whatever. But you can see it at camp because you'll see them walking along and a girl will pass them and this girl goes,

SPEAKER_00: 29:45

hello.

SPEAKER_01: 29:48

And all of a sudden, this kid who has hated girls his whole life, when she goes, hello, he goes, hello. He goes, hi, my name's Sally. What's your name? I mean, his heart is thumping so hard you could see it coming out of his chest. He can't even think or reason. It's an awesome moment. Girls, you have more power than you could ever imagine. Trust me. But you also have to be very wise sometimes. Because the heart can be exceedingly deceitful, i.e. Samson, i.e. Solomon, David. Please don't think less of me. But when I was in a preacher training program and I got up and preached one Sunday, And as you normally do after you preach, you go out into the foyer and everybody comes by and they're really nice and whatever else. A dear friend of mine, very dear friend of mine, who I love to hang out with and was just so much fun to be around, but a lot older than me, he came out and I saw him coming toward me and I was ready just to say, thank you, God. But when he got to me, he did this number and then he poked his finger literally into my chest. And in the middle of the foyer with everybody around, he goes, you're an idiot. I'm like, Brother Moss, say it louder so the church down the road can hear us. What? He goes, you're an idiot. I'm like, what? He said, you see that girl over there? And he pointed toward the back of the auditorium to this girl who had moved to that congregation about the same time that I did and had started her career and was always teaching Bible class, always visiting with the ladies, always involved, always extremely modest. Do you see her? He said. If that's not beautiful to you, you're an idiot. I've seen what's been catching your eye. You need to wake up. So I married her. I'm no idiot. And to this day, I'm so very thankful. I'm so very thankful. Now, let me just say, that's not the way to normally handle it, folks. You got to really know somebody. But you need people on your board of directors to give you counsel so that you're not acting foolishly. And you're looking for the true worthy woman. Because if that woman in Proverbs chapter 31 is not beautiful to you, you got problems, fellas. And girls, can I just give you a little piece of advice? Don't let the world change in your mind or your heart what true beauty is. It is not Instagram, girl. Those are not the likes. That you're looking for. You need somebody in your life to give you an idea of marriage. Let me show you how this works. This is great. All right. Anybody here ever told by your parents you're not allowed to look around in church? Everybody else getting in trouble for that? They see you looking around? I used to. My parents could say, this is what my parents told me. You can sit anywhere you want in church. You just have to sit in front of us. And my parents sit on the second row. That's true. And you were not allowed to look around in church. If you started looking around, boom, you would wake up at evening service time. That's the way it worked. All right. I want you to look around. This is your time to look around because you got to see this. All right. Everybody here, everybody here who is married, raise your hand. If you are married, raise your hand. All right. Keep them up. Y'all got to see this. This is awesome. If you've been married five years, keep them up. If you're five, ten. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty. Twenty-five. Thirty. Thirty-five! Yeah, just this past week. Forty. Forty-five. Fifty. Get those hands up. You're proud of me. Be proud of her, Brother Roberts. Be proud of her. Forty-five. Fifty. Fifty. Fifty-five. Sixty. Sixty-one. Sixty-two. Sixty-three. Sixty-four. How many? Sixty-eight? Sixty-eight today! All right! Woo! That's worth celebrating, people! Okay, so here's what I want you to do. The next time you go to the movies where everybody gets all their marital advice, watching those wonderful, wonderful romantic comedies, or watching the Hallmark Channel, you never know how it's going to end. I was so surprised she fell for him. All right, next time you're at the movies, just for a little fun while the previews are going on, just get up in front of everybody at the movie and go, Hey, who's been married ten years? Okay, who's been married nine? Five? Okay, who's been married at least a week and has made it last? Do you see the point? Everywhere I go, that's what I see. God bless y'all. That's where you go for marital advice. You put those people on your board of directors. And you know what they're going to tell you? It wasn't always easy.

UNKNOWN: 36:46

I know.

SPEAKER_01: 36:50

It wasn't always simple. But it was always filled with love. You need somebody on your board of directors who can help you manage money. One of the best things that I get to do in my new job at Florida College is I get to spend a lot of time with people who've been very successful. But they're not successful because they have money. They are successful because of the way they use their money. And I also tell all the young people at Florida College that I get to work with, there's three things. There are three things that you have no excuse not to excel in. Number one, by the time you're 60, you should be able to get along with any family member. I don't care how weird Uncle Eddie is. You should be able to get along with them. You should be a person of peace, and you should be able to make it happen. Number two, you should be a biblical scholar. By the time you're, you've got 40 years. By the time you're 60, you should know the Bible. No, you may not have a doctorate or a degree, but you've had 40 years to get in the book. You should be a person of the book. And number three, you should be a millionaire. And I don't appeal to your greed when I say that to you. It's called compounding interest. Do you realize if you just set aside 50 bucks a week, do something that nobody else in the world does. You set aside 50 bucks a week, starting at the age of 20. When you're 62, you will have$1.2 million. And here's the best part of it. Over$900,000 of that was through compounding interest. It didn't even come out of your pocket. Again, I don't say that to appeal to your greed. I say that to appeal to your self-control. That you surround yourself with people who know how to use money. That they know how to take what God has given them and use it as a blessing to others. And they are forthwith in all that they do with their money because they don't hoard it. They want to share it. They've been responsible. You need people like that in your life. You need people who are good when it comes to attitude. Two months ago, God blessed me with being able to sit at the bedside of my mom as she went home. For ten years, she suffered with bone cancer, stage four. And every single time I would call her, I'd say, Mom, how are you doing? And she would say, I'm great. I'm thinking to myself, no, you're not. And she would say, I'm just so glad that it's me and not one of you kids or my precious grandchildren. And just maybe through all these trials and tests, They'll find a cure and I'll get to be part of the reason why. Right before she stopped speaking, I said, Mom, I love you. And she goes, I love you more. And she goes... I'm great. When her eyes didn't flicker anymore, I couldn't help but think, she's great now. But I'll have that in my heart for the rest of my life. People of faith know how to handle challenges. Doesn't mean they handle it perfectly. But you need people like Marilyn Robertson on your board. You need people who handle adversity. They've gone through the trials and the struggles of life and they've made it to the other side by the grace of God and they give God all the praise and all the glory. I'd love to introduce you to a man by the name of Mark Denton, who he is now about five years old, but since the age of five he's been paralyzed from the chest down. He was in a car accident with his mother at the age of five that took her life and left him paralyzed. And although he spends... All of his life dealing with the challenges of paralysis in a wheelchair. He worked every day of his life. And when you are around Mark Denton, you are literally around the happiest person in the world. Who says, I had Jesus. I had my family. I have my brethren. What else could I possibly need? He's on my board. And I think of him often when I'm thinking this is hard. You need people on your board who are good parents. They bring their children up in the Nurture and the admonition of the Lord. And if you will, they're the kind of people who understand that life is indeed more than just sports. It's even more sometimes than even great jobs. It's about walking with the Lord. And parenting's not easy. And let me just say to any of the parents here this morning who are pulling your hair out and thinking, how am I going to do this? Then you're doing it right. Because that's what it is. We love y'all, but you know, sometimes. Because there's nothing more peaceful than knowing your children are walking with the Lord. Spirituality. health and fitness, make your own list. But the fact of the matter is when God brings us together as his family, he surrounds us with people to motivate us, inspire us, invigorate us, encourage us, to lift us, to stir us. And that can only happen when we listen to what he's saying and we put these people first. At our table. In Romans chapter 16, the Apostle Paul, I believe, lists his own board of directors. And I won't read this entire list, but I do want you to notice something. They all had something in common. You'll notice in verse 1 of Romans 16, he speaks of Phoebe. Who is Phoebe? She is a servant of the church. In verse 2, she's become a patron of many. In verse 3, there's Priscilla and Aquila. Who are they? They are his fellow workers. How else are they described in verse 4? They are those who risked their own life. A little bit later in verse 7... They are fellow prisoners. A little bit later in verse 7, they are those who are in Christ even before Him. In verse 9, they are those who are fellow workers. In verse 10, approved by Christ. In verse 12, they are workers in the Lord. And then you'll notice in verse 12, those are those who have worked hard in the Lord. Because Paul says, these are my people. They're not the people who just come and sit in a pew. They're not the people who just come and check a box. They're the people who get to work. And I just want you to know that some of the people who sit on my board are in this room today. And they're not always the people that are older than me. Cheryl and I had the amazing privilege of taking some students to the Philippines twice this past year. And we had been over there a couple of days on the first trip where we both looked at each other and we both almost at the same time went, they're old. They were camp friends. They were leaders on campus. They were society leaders, sewer club leaders. They were teaching class at their local congregations. They were people with a common mission, a common heart, and a common action. They're my kind of people. And I can't wait to get back next month. Because they've already reached out to Cheryl and said, hey, we got to get together. And I'm like, yes, we do. As much as I'm impressed with Jonathan, I'm impressed even more with the armor bearer, aren't you? One of those great unnamed heroes in Scripture. And just so you know, when it comes to being on the board of directors, it doesn't mean that's a paid position. If you want to pay them, have at it, please. If you want to have a gathering every few years, have at it. But some of them may not even know that they're on your board. Some of them may be people that you talk to often and need to. Some of them may actually even be Bible characters. And some of them may be just those amazing people who've gone on before us. Who had the courage to say to you. You've had your fun. Time to get to work. But they're the people that remind you. Of who you are. What you're to be about. And more importantly, where you're going. Let me leave you just one more thought before we stand and sing this song. Talking about good friends. When Jesus was surrounded by his disciples, that night before he went to the cross, he said this to them. Greater love has no one than this than for someone to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends. You are my friends. If you do what I command you. Two ways to think about that. First and foremost, there's no greater friend than Jesus, right? And truly, he is a friend. No greater friend. Because he gave his life for us so that we could have salvation. King Jesus died for us.

UNKNOWN: 49:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 49:48

But then he took it a step further. Not only am I your friend, you're my friend. Think about that. If you'll do what I command you. Can I encourage you to surround yourself with godly people? And that the person sitting at the head of your board of directors is the best friend you'll ever have. King Jesus. And you will be his friend if you'll trust him and obey. If there's anything that we can do to help you trust and obey your Lord Jesus and walk closer to him, we invite you to come while we stand and sing.

SPEAKER_00: 50:57

Thanks for listening to the West Side Church of Christ podcast. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, justchristians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.io. That's upbeat with two Ps, U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again.