The Friends You Choose Shape Your Future

Jul 26, 2026

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

54s
#GodSendsFriends
“But leadership is now a challenge. Now he's in charge of people. And if anything if anybody knows anything about leadership, that's a lonely place. And loneliness was a challenge. And David, he would spend years living between God's promises and God's fulfillment. And in that season, God gave David a friend. Now, you might pause for a second and be like, a friend? Yeah, I know. Not a sword, not a strategy, not an army, but a friend. Because there it comes. Because sometimes, one of God's greatest gifts is not removing the battle, but placing the right person beside you in it.”
71s
#DavidPointsToJesus
“Then there's David. We're unpacking David now. I'm just talking about how David points us to Jesus, and then ultimately, Jesus. The entire Old Testament is moving toward one person, and that is Jesus. That's why when Matthew opens up the gospels, he doesn't start with the miracles. No. He starts with genealogy. Have you ever wondered why that is? He starts with the genealogy because because he is saying that everything you have been reading has been leading here. David points us toward Jesus. Not because David was perfect, but actually because he wasn't. David becomes a picture of a greater king who is coming, a king after God's own heart. A king who would succeed where David failed, a king whose kingdom would never end, and that is Jesus.”
46s
#RejoiceWithOthers
“Now, I don't know about you, but that is a lot harder than it sounds. I mean, it is easy to cry with somebody. But think about, how about the person when you're trying out for a play and they get the part above you? How about at work where you're getting promoted or you're hoping to get promoted and someone else gets the position? We've all been there. The coach puts in the other player. You don't make the team, but your friend does. We've all been there. It is so much harder to rejoice. It is harder to celebrate when God blesses someone in ways you hoped he would bless you.”
61s
#ThankYourMentors
“This week, I'm gonna be talking about his friend. And what the big idea is here is God often uses friendships to shape our character, strengthen our calling, and point us to the greater friendship that we have in Jesus Christ. So I'm gonna start off by asking us a question. Think about this. Who helped who helped make you who you are today? I know it's a deep question, and and I want us to take it seriously because I'm not talking about a celebrity or a historical figure or anybody that is, like, famous. We're talking about an actual person, someone who actually encouraged you, somebody who's actually who believed in you, someone who challenges you. This is what I want you to think about, someone who stayed when others have walked away.”
59s
#YouDontWalkAlone
“So as we wrap up today, I wanna bring us back to the example of David and Jonathan. Their friendships remind us that God never intended for us to walk through life alone. He never did. That's why he created two. We all need people who will encourage us, strengthen us, challenge us, and point us back to God. But if we're honest, some of us are carrying burdens today that we've been trying to carry all by ourselves. Maybe maybe you need wisdom for a decision. Maybe you're facing a struggle. It could be within your marriage. It could be in your family. You could be battling fear, anxiety. It could be grief. It could be a disappointment. Or it simply could be you're in the hospital praying for your son.”
92s
#PeopleShapeYourFaith
“what if the greatest predictor of your spiritual future isn't your intentions? What if it's the people you're allowing closest to you? You know, interesting question. Right? What if it's the person you're allowing closest to you? Because nobody drifts towards Jesus, we move towards Jesus with help. It reminds me when I was a kid. I'm not gonna get into my whole backstory, but my father was he was very abusive. And don't get me wrong, I love my dad, but he was abusive physically, mentally, and all these things. He left when I was 14. He abandoned us. I later made things better. That's another story for another time. But the point of the story is this. There was this guy, my best friend's father, and the funny thing is I went to Westminster High School, and my best friend's father was the principal of North Carroll High School. And I was always hanging out at his house, and he just took a very strong invested interest in me. He started to guide me along like a father because he recognized I was missing that in my life because I was a crazy, goofy teenage kid doing extremely stupid things. And if it wasn't for him, he's the one who set me on my path, put me on that journey where I finally met Jesus, which is where I finally grew up. And that was a process, and that's a story for another time too.”
76s
#FaithfulInHardSeasons
“My third point is this. God often uses friendships to sustain us during difficult seasons. He does. Think about the friend that I was telling you to think about. David is about to enter into one of the most hardest seasons of his life. Because what happens is Saul, the king, he becomes jealous. You see, he he Saul's problem was he was all about Saul. And now all of a sudden, David is getting all this attention. And David is doing all and he starts to become threatened by David, his popularity, his success, the fact that it seems like God is constantly with David and not him. So he does what every good person would do and every good king, he wants to kill David. David, he becomes he becomes hunted, He becomes homeless. He loses his security. He spends years, years waiting, waiting on God. But Jonathan, the son of Saul, remains faithful.”
41s
#FriendsTellTruth
“And then who points you towards Jesus when life gets hard? Because everybody everybody needs a Jonathan. For me, even though Jono is not here, I'm gonna share that. Jono is one of those people for me. Jono is he he he is he will listen, he lends an ear, but he doesn't tell me what I wanna hear. He tells me what I need to hear. And who does that for you? Where where think about that person I must tell you. Is that what that person does?”
53s
#PrayTogether
“I can't even imagine what that is like. Maybe you simply just need someone to stand and pray with. One of the greatest acts of faith is admitting that we need help. So I'm gonna invite the band back up, and as they come up, lead us in a song of worship. And our Pray Now team is gonna be up here in the front, and what we wanna do is we would like to pray with you. We simply just wanna stand before the Lord. We we would be honored to do that. You don't have to carry these burdens alone. You don't have you all don't have to have all the answers. Some sometimes the next step of faith is simply asking someone to join you in prayer.”
64s
#FriendLikeJesus
“``And now here's where the story gets even more amazing, because Jonathan, as amazing as he is Jonathan's a I mean, wouldn't you love to have a friend like Jonathan? Well, amazing as he is, he's not the hero. In fact, David is not the hero. Jesus is. Every great story in scripture, remember, it all points back to Jesus. See, here's how Jonathan points us towards Jesus. Jonathan willingly laid down his rights for David. Jesus willingly laid down his life for us. Amen. Jonathan gave David his robe. Jesus gives us his righteousness. Jonathan protected David from Saul. Jesus rescued us from sin and death. Jonathan loved David at great cost. Jesus loved us at the ultimate cost.”
76s
#FriendshipsReflectJesus
“One of the greatest gifts God gives us isn't success. It isn't comfort. It isn't it isn't influence. It's people. People are our greatest resource. People who remind us of who we are, people who remind us of whose we are, people who point us toward Jesus. And ultimately, every faithful friend in our lives is simply reflecting the greatest friend we have ever had. And that one who that is the one who laid down his life for us. The one who he never leaves us. He will never forsake us. He is the one that calls friend. Amen. See, the bottom line is this, godly friendships strengthen our faith, shape our future, and remind us of the friend who gave everything for us, and that is Jesus Christ.”
58s
#FriendshipLeadsToGod
“Jonathan helped him find strength in God. Now, I don't want us to rush past that. I don't want us to miss that. Jonathan didn't make David feel better. It wasn't, hey, man, it's gonna be okay. I know my dad wants to kill you, but it's gonna be alright. He helped him find strength in God. That is biblical friendship. Not someone who merely tells you what you want to hear, someone who helps you hear what God is saying. And then we have to remember, keep in mind, Jonathan does this, and here he's the guy who's next in line. This is going back to this just shows his humility. He's the he should be be like, yeah, dad. Let's get him. He's gonna take my place. But he doesn't.”
61s
#BeAJonathan
“Who helps you find strength in God? Who encourages your faith? Who challenges your character? Who reminds you of truth? Thank God for those people. We don't want to take those people for granted because they're a blessing. It is great to have a Jonathan in our life, and we need to thank those people for being those people for us. But then there's one that's even a little bit more challenging. So here's another set of questions. This one's a little harder. Who are you being a Jonathan to? Who are you encouraging? Who are you strengthening? Who are you helping find strength in God? Because everybody needs a Jonathan, but few people decide to become one.”
31s
#CelebrateDontCompete
“immaturity competes. This is a great judge to figure out where you are. It's how you respond to things, where you are spiritually and maturity wise. Because immaturity, it competes where maturity celebrates. Insecurity asks, what about me? Faith asked, what is God doing? That's where faith lies.”
61s
#HumilityOverStatus
“right, you think that's kind of a strange scripture. Right? He took off his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. And these just aren't random items. And what's really cool about it is these are these are symbols. They are symbols of status. They are symbols of his authority, symbols of his identity, symbols of his inheritance. In a sense, what Jonathan is saying is, I recognize what God is doing in your life, and I want to be a part of that. It's more important for me to serve God than to serve myself. Now that brings on like, that just shows some amazing humility, amazing maturity, and trust. Not only trust in David, but his trust in God.”
86s
#JesusTheAnointedKing
“The king of kings calls friend. The creator calls friend. The savior calls us friend. See, David's life also points back towards Jesus. David points us towards Jesus because David was the anointed king. David David is the altar. I mean, and and Jesus is the ultimate anointed one. In fact, messiah means, in Hebrew, anointed one. And Christ means, in Greek, anointed one. So when you say Jesus Christ messiah, you're saying Jesus, the anointed one, the anointed one. Crazy, isn't it? But he is God. He is the ultimate anointed one. David defeated a giant for Israel. Jesus, he defeats sin, death, and the grave for all of humanity. David brought temporary peace, Jesus brings eternal peace. David's kingdom, it ended. But Jesus' kingdom, it never will. It never ends. The story of David is preparing us for the arrival of Jesus.”
87s
#CelebrateGodsCalling
“But that brings me to my second point. Godly friendships or godly friends godly friends celebrate God's calling instead of competing with it. You see, this is where the story really becomes remarkable, when we start to think about Jonathan. Because Jonathan should hate David. So if you don't really know who Jonathan is, Jonathan is the son of Saul, who is the king reigning king. So Jonathan is next in line. He's the prince. So the kingdom is all his. He's next. He will soon be king. He should be hating David because he knows David got anointed. But Jonathan has and he has every reason to hate David. But Jonathan has every reason to view David as competition, but yet he doesn't. And why doesn't David or or Jonathan look at David as competition? It's because Jonathan cared more about God's will than his own position, And that's a rare attribute in a friend. Cared more about God's will more than his own position in his life as the next reigning king.”
79s
#FriendshipBeyondConvenience
“And Jonathan sees something in David. He and it's not his talent. It's not his popularity. Because suddenly, he was popular. I mean, he kills the giant. He now becomes a general. He's leading people. He does a lot of heroic conquering things. So he's very popular, and it's not his future throne. He sees God's hand on him, and that's what creates this bond. Because many friendships are built around conveniences. I mean, if we think about it. Think about most of our friendships. It's we're at work, we're around the water water cooler. Sports. Most of us, when we have kids, every weekend, we're watching sport after sport after sport after sport. And you remember the softball, the fast pitch softball for, like, little kids? That was miserable. Everybody walked. You had a lot of time to talk to the folks that were there. Neighbor like, in your neighborhood, neighboring. Like, you get to know folks in your neighborhoods. It was all built on shared activities. And nothing's wrong with that. Don't get me wrong. the deepest friendships are built around shared devotion to God.”
40s
#WalkTowardJesusTogether
“Now I've got one of those minds where I I'm always looking for the loophole, and I think, well, there are times I have to walk with somebody. Like at my job, there are people I have to well, not this job. Never. But there are people I have to walk with that I didn't agree to. I'm paid to. You know what I mean? So that's a difference, but that's not what you're talking about. It's like if we're taking a journey or if we're walking along the road with somebody or if we're on a journey of life with somebody, we agreed to do so. So the strongest relationships aren't just moving to the same direction, they're moving toward the same savior.”
47s
#RuthsLoyalty
“And then here's one of my favorites, Ruth. Ruth is one I love because she's not even an Israelite. She's a Moabite woman. She married into the family. Her husband died, was known for her loyalty for her to her mother-in-law Naomi. And what she shows us is the meaning of covenant, what covenant relationship actually looks like. She's famous for the declaration of where you go, I go, where you stay, I stay, your people or my people. And then she ultimately she becomes the grandmother of of or great grandmother of David. And then Ruth is one of the only two women in the bible that actually has a book named after her.”
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