Voice of the Nazarene 2-2-25

Voice of the Nazarene 2-2-25

Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene a week by week. Venture into the Word of God sponsored by the buchars, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle and the voice of the Nazarene.

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:17

Proverbs 17. Verse 17, and may I say to you, if we need anything, we need a friend. I don't know anyone that doesn't need a friend for the good times, for the bad times, they'll be on our side forevermore, friends. That's what friends are for. Solomon, the wise preacher. He said A friend loveth at all times. And I'm glad he mentions that a brother is born for adversity. I only had one brother that lived. I lost a brother and two birthdays ago, on my birthday, I buried my older brother. I thought of the times growing up as kids and getting into it with some neighbor boys. I was sure glad I had an older brother born for adversity, but I want to deal with the other this morning. A friend loveth at all times. A friend is that person who walks in when everybody else is walking out. Friend is that one that knows all of your good points, but they also know your weaknesses and to some of your bad points. If you got tons of friends like that, you're extremely blessed reading this week about a young man. He's not quite 30, lives up at Fort Wayne, Indiana, graduated with a bachelor's degree in counseling and is a gifted speaker and writer. He and another sibling were born with type two spinal muscular atrophy. In other words, he's never walked a day in his life. He's never taken a step. He got the bright idea in 2015 to travel across Europe, not a way in the world that he could do it. He lives in a chair, but he had some friends, and he talked at least four of his friends into carrying him on their back across Europe, and they begin to dream of a lifetime trip together. And they they devised a backpack, something like you would carry a kid in only they build it bigger, and they traveled across Wales and England and France and Ireland. And fact, a matter, a couple years later, went across China, all because he had some friends to carry him. Kevin Chandler is his name. You might want to look it up, and I can tell you this much, folk, we may not have spinal muscular atrophy, but there will be times in our life when we'll need somebody to carry us, somebody to defend us, somebody To support us, somebody to help us, somebody to assist us, to help us with things. And I can promise you, if you'll show me your friends, I can give a pretty good guess about your destiny for your life. William hard tap was president. He was about to go out of office, and his successor was Woodrow Wilson. She's about to leave office. Woodrow Wilson was very apprehensive, and he said to him, he said, in just a concise statement or two, can you tell me some advice to help me as I step up into this office, William Taft dropped his head and finally muttered to him, you're going to find this to be the loneliest place in The world, and the issue of loneliness is epidemic across America. Did you know that 50% of Americans say that they struggle with loneliness? 25% of Americans say that they don't have one real too close friend. You. 65% of the young people, that's from ages 12 to 17, say, I battle. I struggle with loneliness. But it's not only a problem in America. It's also a problem in Britain. Fact of the matter in Britain, 68% of the British people say they struggle with loneliness until the Prime Minister has made a place in his cabinet and has put in a minister for loneliness. 25 years ago, you could ask somebody, how many true friends do you have? And the average was six close friends. Today, if you ask somebody how many close friends they have, they'll tell you probably at the very most, two close friends. You say, Well, Pastor, how did it drop down from six down to two. Let me give you at least three reasons. I believe because of an increase in work hours, I believe that people go home from work and they take their work home with them. I believe a lot of times by the time we get home, we can't lay it down. Plus, we've got iPads, we've got computers, we got cell phones, and they keep ringing, and we keep going through and trying to tidy up and and we're so loaded down. Some of us haven't been the kind of dads that we maybe could have been. I believe the rise in divorce rate. I cannot tell you how many friends because of divorce, I lost their friendship, because when that happens, you only get two one's going to drop you, and the other is going to ride along with you. I believe another reason is the explosion in social media, it seems like we used to be concerned about face to face relationships. Used to be a time you had a front porch with a swing on it, and you sent and talked as a couple, but the television is blaring and you can't hear them and you're caught up with something else. There used to be a time we had face to face relationships, and now it's thumb to thumb instead of face to face. And we've raised our children, and we've taught them how to text and how to tweet, and they don't know how to talk. Adam, we're not careful. We're getting lost social media. Everybody's got a post whether their pets had a bowel movement or what they ate for dinner or they got a pimple, and really, nobody really cares, but we've lost this art of relationship. The thing that's very, very important to us, what's the answer for loneliness? Well, it's not a new problem. God that created Adam, and in Genesis 218, he said, It's not good for man to live alone. I'll make for him a helpmate. And the answer for loneliness is relationships. The answer for loneliness is friendships. Kurt Johnson wrote a book entitled My friends, and in his book, he said that we all have casual friends. I would add the word to that word, casual friends circumstances. Can I describe it with circumstances? It's just who you meet when you're maneuvering out through your daily grind, week after week and month after month, and you go into the druggist and and you talk to the girl, and she's getting your prescription together, and you see her on her she's kind of a casual friend. And where you stop to get that hamburger, and somebody's waiting on you, and you see him on and even maybe notice their name, and you begin to tell them their name, their occasional friend. And we've got a lot of room in our life for a lot of casual friends, because they're not consuming our time anyway, and we kind of know em by seeing it. I think there's also beyond that, what we call close friends. And when I say close friends, I would add the word choice. We choose to spend a little bit more time with these close friends. Maybe you invite them over, maybe you go to their house, or you meet them someplace for lunch and and we, they're they're close to us because we've chosen that you. But beyond casual friends, beyond close friends, you need core friends, those that really would just nearly die for you. They care that much. If you were in a jam, they'd help you to get out of that jam. They would stand behind you when everybody else is fighting you, you say, where do you get that preacher? I get it out of the Bible. Jesus loved everybody. Jesus fed the 5000 but he appointed 70 some and sent them out into ministry. But yet he discipled 12, but he only mentored three. It's what we call biblical teaching. So if I'm going to be a good friend, what are some of the qualities that I need to have, and if you're going to find friends, what are some of the qualities that you need to look for things that are helpful, things that are practical. How can I be a better friend? Can I just throw a few thoughts at you? You can faster. Thank you. Number one, cheer up. Do you know the shortest distance between two people is a smile? I can walk down through the hospital quarters, and I do it a lot. I think I've been in three this last week and and I'm amazed at how many people walk and they avoid eye contact, but they catch my eye. I'm watching they get a smile. This is the shortest distance. Distance only takes 13 muscles, and I don't want to wear myself out, but it takes 33 to frown. Anybody here like to be cuter? You? Smile. That's all you've gotta do. I mean, if Jesus has saved you and forgiven you of your sins, and you don't have to go to hell now and you're on your way to heaven, notify your face. If you want to attract friends, cheer up. Well, Pastor, I'm going to cheer up when things begin to work out in my life. Well, let me show you a little scripture. Maybe nobody's ever pointed it out to you, but it's Proverbs, 15, verse 30, a cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and the more apt you are to work yourself into a feeling than you are to fill yourself into an action. Forget all the feeling stuff, and according to the scripture, a little bit of a smile brings some joy. I would encourage you to do that. So if you want a friend, you all you gotta do is cheer up. Here's the second step. That's free up. I believe there's freedom in just being yourself. I heard about an old boy the other day. He had braces put on his false teeth so he would appear younger. You say, Well, I don't, if people really knew me, they wouldn't like me for who I am, then probably you're not. If you're not yourself, you don't have a friendship anyway, because they don't, won't even know the real you. Well, moving along, notice what the Scripture says, Matthew 2239 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and you can't even love others until you love who God made you to be. Do you know why people always picking on everybody else because they're not happy with themselves? There's insecurity that they're battling with, but there's a freedom just being yourself and then speak up, pastor. I want to attract friends. How do I do it? Well, the Bible says, here in Philippians, two, four, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So how do I do it? Ask questions. Ask how are your children good? Quit telling about yours, and get interested in theirs. You don't have to complain about your job, just let them talk to you about their job. In other words, when you're with people, be interested, instead of always trying to be interesting. Be interested, not trying to be interesting. I think Toby Keith had it wrong. Let's go talk about me. Let's talk. About you now, I don't have one here today, but if I had a photographer up here on the platform shooting a picture of the audience, and he put together a real good picture, and next Sunday, I tell you that that picture is going to be out in the foyer. You can look at it when we dismiss, everybody would run out and guess who they would look at on that. And that's our problem. If you want to have an impact on people, why do we always talk about ourselves? If we're not careful, we'll have self on our mind, Calvin Klein on our behind, and it's time that we get ourselves off our mind and begin to get interested in others. The secret to being interested in other people, that's the secret. So all I want to say is cheer up. Free up. Speak up, and then listen up. Look at what James 119 says, Wherefore, my beloved brother, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak. Do you ever wonder why God gave us two ears and only one mouth? If you're a good listener, people will say, Boy, there are great conversationalists and you haven't said anything. Some of my best friends have the art of listening, and I fall into my art of talking, and then I regret it later. I promise myself I'll never do it again. And I do it, but some of my friends that have really stood out to me across the years, and I lost one the other day. He could listen better than anybody else he was interested. So just listen. And then here's my next one. I'm afraid to say it, but it's called Shut up. Now I know I've offended somebody without even trying, but you know what the Bible said? Great peace. Have they that love the law and nothing shall offend them? Everybody is offended over everything today, crazy days. Can I give you a great verse for a sermon? I'll give you a great win, but I'm not going to preach it this morning. It's in First Thessalonians, 411 that you study to be quiet, do your own business and to work with your own hands. Shut up, mind your own business, and get to work. Isn't that a great sermon? Well, I'll move along. Look at what Proverbs 1113, says, a tail bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. I'm talking about confidentiality. If you're going to be a good friend, you've got to understand what it means to be confidential. One guy said, Pastor. He said, I can keep a secret, but the people I talk to can't. Now, here's what I want to say to you. Your gossip will find you out. It will you say, Well, I want to give a prayer request about George. No, you just want to let everybody know, and God knows what you're doing. God sees now, if you want emotional problems, let me tell you how to have em. Just gossip. Just gossip. You see, where'd you get that from? From the Bible. That's my problem. I read it. Here's what the Bible says, Proverbs, 2123 whoso, keepeth his mouth and his tongue. Keepeth his soul from trouble. What's your soul, your mind, your emotions and your will. You want to mess up emotionally, just keep gossiping, because it'll get you in trouble. Now, I pastored for years, and I believe in the intrinsic value of life. I believe that every life is facial. I believe that God has a purpose for every life. I believe in the same sanctity of marriage. I believe in a traditional marriage. You got a problem with that? I believe the Bible teaches that a marriage is between a man and a woman, and after all of these years of pastoring, those issues haven't affected the church nearly as much as gossiping. Has You got any advice y'all Shut up. I wouldn't have to say it here, but it's, well, let's go to another one. Uh, show up. Show up. I'm talking about when difficult times come, just show up. When I first came here, about the first about the second year I was here, a lady called me and said, my brother's going in for open heart surgery tomorrow? Would you go see him? Then I had a tight schedule. I didn't know the man. I drove out at old 30 and finally located the mobile home where he lived. Never met him before. He's sitting on a picnic table and he's thinking about open heart surgery. And I pull in, he'd never seen me. He wasn't too sure about preachers, and I had to break the ice. And boy, it took a big AX. And finally, I had a word of prayer with him. I got back to the house, and the phone rang, as that same lady said, Now, would you go down and sit with my brother at the Methodist Is it the Methodist Hospital? What's that one down there Riverside? And I said, you're not going to be there. No. She said, I've got to go to the state fair. Well, I might like to go too, but I went not to the fair. That wouldn't have been fair. But I have people call me and say, preacher, somebody's companion just walked out on somebody's baby just died. And you're trained to talk to him. You're trained in knowing what to say. You got me wrong. I've never been trained on what to say. Neither have any of my pastor buddies. None of them have been trained on what to say when a baby dies or somebody's wife or husband has walked out on him. So what do you do? If you're a friend, you just show up. You just show up. It's not your platform. They're interested. It's your presence. It's not what you have to say. It's just that you're a friend and you care, and you show up. And when somebody has a tragedy in their life, and the worst thing you can do is run in with a Bible, flipping down through the scriptures in Romans, 828, I know your baby died, but God's working all things together. They're not ready to hear that right now. What do they need? They need a friend that'll just show up. They need presence. Think about it. Job. Lost everything he had. He lost his children, he lost his finances, he lost his health, and his friends showed up, and for seven days they sat there and never said a word, and it was wonderful, till they opened their mouth, and that's when the problem started. Read the I'm not making all this up. Part of it's true. Y'all here, just show up. Friends, show up. I'm here when the tough times come. And then I'm going to throw a seventh one in here. Stand up. Notice what the scripture said. Proverbs, 27 verse five, Open rebuke is better than secret. Love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Sometimes a true friend will say to you, you were wrong. Sometimes a true friend will say you're going down a wrong, dangerous path. A true friend will say you you didn't show the right attitude back younger. I'm just telling you, we're friends now. A true friend will tell you you're making a big mistake. Think about it. True. Friends say good things behind your back and they say the tough things to your faith. If somebody supports every decision you make, even if they're wrong, they're not the person that you're needing in your life. Somebody said, I don't need a friend that changes when I change and nods when I nod, my shadow does that much better. The old preacher was teaching a young preacher how to do counseling, and he was serving his clinicals under him, and so he said quietly at the side over the corner of the office. And the lady came in and she said, My husband, he's brutal, and my husband's mean, and my my husband's not understanding, and my husband doesn't say what I need to hear. And the old preacher said, You're right. You. You're right, you're right. After a while, the husband came in, and he said, all the problems on my wife's side. He said, You're right, you're right, you're right. When he left, the young preacher said, you got me as confused as a termite and a yo yo. When she came in, you said you're right, you're right, you're right. And when he came in, you said you're right, and the old preacher said You're right, you're right, you're right. Sometimes we need a friend that will say you're wrong, you're wrong. This time, you're wrong. Here's an eight thing I'll throw at you for a moment. I guess I'll quit on these. Give up. Look at what Proverbs 17 six says, Many will entreat the favor of the prince, and every man is a friend to him that giveth gives. What's he saying? Rather than trying to get decide in your heart that you're going to be a giver. Instead of looking for people who will give to me, look for the opportunities for you to be a giver, because givers always have more than enough, and takers never have enough. Look to be a giver. Bill Bright said, I'd rather give my gifts while my hands are warm. You say, Pastor, I need a friend. Where can I get some friends? Well, look at what the Bible says Hebrews 1024, let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that today, of His return is drawing near. I can't think of a better place to meet people than the house of God, than the house of God, I said, the house of God. Now, if you look around, you're sitting in rows. Can I just say to you, from my heart to yours, after 100 years of preaching, we need to be getting into some circles. Instead of just having a face off and always instruction, some of us need some fellowship. Some of us need friendship. And when I say that, you gotta understand I'm talking from the pastor's perspective, when I've seen it in these little, small groups sometimes, where you can develop problems, but I still know that if we don't begin to get into a circle and have accountability and encouragement from others and have a friend or two, we're not going to make it in the tough times circles, we need people. We need encouragement. Now I'm saying, if you can be here instead of just watching my live stream, it's kind of like not going to heaven, but you get to watch you church. Now I'm not talking about my friends watching my live stream or television who are miles from here and can't be in church. I'm saying to us that could be we need the fellowship and we need more than pajamas and a cup of coffee and and not leaving the house if we're not careful, we we miss out on that camaraderie, and we miss out on that settling of the presence of God in a gathering. We need one another. Now, in closing, I just want to mention, I won't tell you about my best friend, and his name is Jesus. And as a boy, growing up as a sinner boy without God in my heart, I came out of a broken home, mom and dad. Dad had married. My mom became my dad, and they got saved. They wasn't on purpose. They did not intend for it to happen, but they went to a revival. Happened to be a little Nazarene church. Later years, I would pastor that church in Brazil, Indiana, and they got saved that crazy preacher give an altar call, and they got mama got under conviction. Dad had already told her, we should go. They put you under a spell. And Dad said he was getting mad. They're standing in the back and the altar calls going, and he said, it's time to leave. She said, It's too late. I'm under the. Spell, these folk are happy and I'm not happy. And after that, I met Jesus, because mom and dad got saved and I had a sin dad and Jesus, who had no debt, took on my debt. Now I've been pastoring for 33 years right here. I've done a little bit elsewhere before they put the moving van in front of my house. I may have elaborated on that a bit because I don't want any phone calls from where I pastor. It said that's not the way it was. That's the problem with this social media. I can't tell a story, but what I don't get a call before the day is over from elsewhere. But I pastored here for 33 years, and I've had people that believed in me and stood behind me and I thought would be my friend and be a supporter, clearly the end, but it hasn't worked out that way, and they're gone. Fact a matter, if I could have everybody that was a part of this church across these 33 years, this building wouldn't begin to hold them. Some of you have had friends that you thought would be there to the end, and they haven't lasted. But I want to tell you there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. His name is Jesus, and when everybody else walks out, he'll never leave you nor forsake you. And from where I am at this stage in life, I need to tell some of you, there'll be a time you'll wish that you knew him as your friend, because some of those that you thought they'll be absent, and suddenly you're on your own. We all need friends, but there's one friend you really can't hardly make it without his name's Jesus. I want my guests that are here this morning to remember that back in that grand foyer, there's a little cafe over there, and you're invited to get your free cup of whatever you want. Keith's going to pay for it, and I find my paycheck, I'll pay him back. We're that grateful that you've come and decided to make this to be a place that you would visit this morning. How honored we are to think that somebody would drive by and say, you know, we need to try that church out. I don't even know how to thank you for coming. I hope you'll like it so well. You'll come back. I'm planning on being here next Sunday, even myself. Father, thanks

Unknown: 32:52

for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor, Ray LaSalle, for more information regarding BNC visit bucyrusnazarene.org. You.