Greater Men
by Raymond Sloan
June 24, 2026 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church (Chattanooga, TN)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-8, 2 Peter 1:15, Genesis 2, Proverbs 18:24

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/raymond-sloan--greater-men-2
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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let's stand together, since you're nice and comfy. we'll pray, ask the lord to be with us this evening's session for men. i know there are lots of needs no doubt anytime people come together. they got stuff they need to work on and people they know that are hurting and need help. so, let's pray. come on in here young fellow. let's pray together. lord jesus, we love you today and we are so thankful for the power of the holy ghost that works in our lives. thankful lord that we know you. thank you jesus for giving us opportunity to gather tonight lord to study the word. give us direction, wisdom, knowledge, understanding lord that we would know god how to proceed forward in our daily lives. help us to be better men every day.

help us jesus in our decision-making. we love you for it in advance. we thank you. in jesus name, thy kingdom come. thy will be done lord, i pray. bless our time together tonight. bless the needs lord and the things going on in these men's lives in the name of jesus, we pray. amen. all right. thank you guys. you can be seated for seth. what are you doing? all right. we are this will be our final wednesday night on greater men. i do trust that you've enjoyed this dedicated time. next month beginning july actually next wednesday night we have a guest speaker with us. is that right next week? yeah, wow. brother jonathan mcelhaney from franklin, tennessee will be guest speaking here. i'll be out of town.

and we are in july going into greater families. greater families for the month of july. if you have yet to get your devotional for your family, prayer journal for your family. when we get to our worship service, there'll be a qr code you can scan. please, guys, pick one of those up, order it. it takes 3 or 4 days to get to you. and uh we'll be going through some of that in the month of july, but it will also help you as husbands and fathers to have a a guide to help you through. brother mcelhaney will be talking next week. uh his specialty, he is a he is a crisis counselor. that's what he does for he's a pastor, but then he helps with crisis counseling. he's got tons of experience with uh issues, mental issues, hurts, stuff like that.

he's very, very good at what he does. uh he's all over the state. he's uh agreed to come and speak to you to the church next wednesday night. you will definitely enjoy that. that is on the family, and then uh i'll have a session with my wife, sam and i will have a session. we're just trying to make our way through the family. everybody say, "greater families." >> greater families. >> all right. if you've got a bible tonight, go ahead and dig that out. um we will get to that. >> >> while you're doing that, men, don't forget um this weekend services here at the church. um trusting god for great move of god. amen.

i know the camps are over, now vacations begin, and people will be several families will be out of of uh here till let's go to 2 peter. 2 peter. it's a short letter. we're going to read uh something besides that. i'm joking. 2 peter, chapter 1. we're going to begin there. i welcome all of you out tonight. if you want to take notes, please feel free to do so. um if you've got your journal, feel free to make notes in your journal. i know that you can later draw from it. all right. tonight, greater men, i know i had a session, brother sam had a session, brother tim had a session, and uh this will complete the greater men. tonight, i want to talk about a topic that's quite challenging, i think, for men.

possibly very possibly one of the biggest challenges that men face in modern day. and uh let's go to 2 peter chapter 1 verse 1. if you guys can help, brother seth, if you'll start, read a verse, brother duran will come up this side and go that way. we're going to go through verse number eight. brother seth, loud voice, please. >> 2 peter 1 >> 1 and 1. mhm. >> simon peter, a servant and an apostle of jesus christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ. >> verse two. >> grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord. >> three.

>> according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. >> verse four. >> by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. >> uh-huh, verse five. >> and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, >> six. >> seven. >> yep, please. >> and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, >> okay, seven.

>> and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. >> verse eight. >> for these things being in you and abounding, they make you that you shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ. >> all right, i know that we have used this particular set of scriptures multiple times um in our lessons. um peter, of course, if you if you do any research at all, peter is is um super intuitive. he is very very in in connection, if you will, with the working of jesus. it was this same peter that preached an incredible message on a very important day that we consider to be a good for us and um pentecost sunday and all of the things in between that peter was involved with.

as as we read this, though, there's something that i think is is important for us to understand. we are all constantly in growth, changing, developing, maturing. as men, i'm pretty convinced that we understand that. um you know, i i i won't ask for show of hands and but it's it's i think worth talking about. you remember back in the day when you could do anything? you know, when you're like 16 years old and you could tackle an elephant, hog-tie uh walk into the park and then let him go in a giraffe cage, you know, whatever. didn't care to jump out of a burning building with a single bound or something like that. a- anybody anybody remember those days? and then what happened? you got hurt a time or two. what else? a little smarter, why?

jumping out of burning building not such a great idea, huh? what else happened? mature, good. what else? anyone? think about it. >> yeah, you want to start a life. >> you got married and now all of a sudden it's not just you to think about. you know, it's like i hear tell there are some men that for an example used to ride motorcycles and then all of a sudden spouses and children come along and >> >> why? what happens? say the word. it's called priorities. priorities change and we embrace that. we we have figured out that as men we understand that we are not born knowing everything. and in fact, that's one of the hardest lessons we have to teach our children, right?

as they grow up and then they become teenagers and woo, here we go. now all of a sudden they're smarter than you, they have more experience than you and therefore you have to confront the beast of the teenage life. so, there is constantly in our lives through personal experience, there is a constant growth that is happening. because of that, sometimes we grow wiser. sometimes we make mistakes again. and then we grow wiser until we make the mistake again. you know, it's enter anybody here get haircuts? well, most of us bro some of us probably not it's a waste of time. i got uh thank you, ron. looks good.

uh i notice now when i go get a haircut half of the half of the time in the barber chair they're trimming the ear the hair out of my ears and stuff now. i'm like, "what where did i don't know." >> >> yeah, or the big ones. yeah, i got you. what how does that happen? huh? >> you jump start it or no? cuz you yeah, here's the thing. here's the thing. again, we learned by the mistakes we make, and then life itself teaches us things. now, all the reason i mentioned, for an example, though, the hair in the ears situation, cuz as men, we know that nobody asked for that. nobody wanted that. i i think that we are as a society, we try to do the best we can with what we've got, and we we sometimes make it, and sometimes we don't.

now, notice what peter wrote here in this particular letter. he he said about 66 ad, he's he's still very active in the church. um let's go here. the bible says here in this reading that to your faith, it is not enough to have simple faith. but with faith, you have to add something. what's it say? >> you add it. >> you add virtue. to your faith, you add virtue. what is faith? >> the evidence of things not seen. the substance of things hoped for. >> yeah. faith is the unmerited favor. no, that's grace. all right, i thought i'd stump you. okay, i stumped you a little bit. faith we can believe things, right? we can believe things. but according to this letter, it's not enough. you have to add to that faith virtue.

and then to that virtue, you add >> knowledge >> knowledge. what is knowledge? simply put >> information >> the ability to know. yeah. knowing. and to knowing you add temperance. what is temperance? self-control. we'll take that. yeah. limitations. yeah. and to that, to temperance you add patience. we all love that one. what is patience? tolerate. i'm joking. yeah. okay. all right. listen to it carefully. faith to virtue, then virtue to knowledge, then knowledge to temperance, and then temperance to patience. patience then you add godliness. you would think godliness would be the first pieces of it. not according to the letter.

according to the letter here, faith, virtue, virtue, knowledge, knowledge, temperance, temperance, patience, and then patience you add godliness. and then godliness you add brotherly kindness. and then to brotherly kindness you add love, charity. all right, here's the thing. in all of these steps of addition it's very specific here. um you are in a progression. you are moving forward. as men, listen carefully, as men i think that we understand completely that there are times in our lives that by ourselves we struggle. anybody understand that? i mean, and you could struggle with uh self awareness. you can struggle with a multiplicity of things feeling like you have worth or value.

you can struggle with habits that you maybe have tried your best to overcome on and on as men by yourself the struggles are real and somehow some way you've got to find a way to continue to move forward. you add to that in your family you add wife, children, job and all of that. all of a sudden the pattern begins to get wider and bigger. what's happening? brother roger said it a minute ago. you are maturing and in maturing process what's going on? what is? change is that what you said? what's the change? what's happening? >> getting older. >> what happens when you get older? come on let's help me through this. >> you wiser. >> wiser why? >> cuz you know you find out your limitations as as your age progresses.

>> okay, so you get smarter, wiser, you do things with better intent. why i'm here tonight in this lesson greater men is i believe that the body of christ we are consistently trying our best to do the right thing and sometimes it's not enough or sometimes it's hard or difficult or challenging. sometimes we don't know which way to turn. sometimes the the questions are bigger than the answers, okay? as we look at this though tonight greater men i want to say something to you that the ultimate product here at the very end is what? you just said it. charity.

so if we indeed or take faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, once we have succeeded or once we have gone through those steps, the last thing that's going to do is we got to add to that then love. i want to bring a focus tonight to to one of these at the end of this list and that's called brotherly kindness. what's brotherly kindness? what's a good definition? >> strong used in the fraternal sense. >> which means? >> brotherly. >> which means? >> camaraderie. >> keep going. can you have a brother that's that wasn't isn't from your family? how is that done? >> from another mother. >> >> indeed. how was that done? huh? >> it's this.

>> what does that mean? >> fellow believers. >> okay, keep going. >> in the church you're brother in christ. >> okay, can you have for an example i've seen um stickers on car fraternal order of police. what it what is that? is that to a brotherhood? >> mhm. >> of? >> of the police. >> so they have they have the same kind of like things. >> right. >> now the beauty of a brother a brotherhood is that not everybody has to like or dislike the same things. right? uh i again i i grew up there was five of us kids. uh four boys and a girl. um christmas for an example, birthdays, things of that nature. uh we had a lot of time together and so not all of it was really really good.

sometimes there was bickering. sometimes i was right. i remember that one time i was right and uh the cuz i was the youngest for many years i was always made the guy who had to go get the ice cream because mom would give it to me and not to my brothers. and then once i got it, the brotherhood said, "now share." and then my older brother would take one bite and leave us okay, here's the point. you learn, as brother sam has mentioned, that brotherly kindness actually refers to trusting and building relationships with other men. so, back to the origin here.

charity then at the end of it says, "i've got to love you." because if i've got faith, virtue, temperance, patience, godliness, if i've got these things in my life working, it is demonstrating almost in like manner the fruit of the spirit. if the spirit of god is working in you, you're going to see fruit. and those things are basically demonstrating to yourself, to everyone else around you, the fact that the spirit of god is working. it does not mean that you've become a perfect king and you're sitting high and lifted up. what it means is that you are on the road to progress to maturity, understanding your place in the kingdom. this serves in the same purpose.

i i think sometimes as men, though, we forget this final step here of taking the fraternity, the fraternal, the family, the the brotherhood, and then deciding that love is what's going to be the thing that takes us over the top. cuz here's the thing about it, if you continue reading um verse number 15 out of 2 peter 1, i didn't give it to them, but i just want to make a reference to it. um basically, what peter is saying is is i think that i've i'm facing the end of my life. i think that my witness, my time here is finished. i want to make sure that you men understand the value of what i've asked you to do.

now, i don't think any of moreover, i will endeavor that you may be able to offer them after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. when i die, i want you to know that these things need to be important. that you have taken the faith and the virtue and the temperance. you have taken the patience, the things of god, and you have made them a part of who you are. so, i mentioned on the outset of this uh session tonight that greater men means that we are striving consistently and constantly to be what god wants us to be. now, here's the thing that i i told you from the beginning, this is going to be probably one of the greatest challenged lessons that we have to talk about, and that is simply this. what you need is a friend.

polls will deter will determine if you'll read any of them, man, you can so many of them out there, studies that men have done or that companies have done about men. if you ask men, uh how many friends do you have? i mean, really good friends. uh uh the list is pretty short. what for i i i here here's the one that i that i thought was very intriguing. i graduated high school. i wasn't very popular in high school. there was 400 or so in my graduating class. and um i was just kind of that guy. i was one of three that went in the military after graduation. the rest are whatever, and uh i made that choice, and that's what i did. 10-year reunion, i went to it. i just thought it'd be cool. anybody go to their 10-year high school reunion?

why didn't you go? >> i don't think we had one. >> oh, well, that's of you guys. you could have just called each other, right? so, i went. i thought it'd be cool. nah, it wasn't. i went. but, you know, and here's here's why. after high school graduation, you remember all the time you spent with each other? football fields, ball games, pep rallies, uh friday nights hanging out at uh wherever. things of that nature that you were doing. remember all those hours? man, you would fight for one another or then fight each other. huh? go down to the river on on friday after school and swimming or fishing or hunting. man, i used to do all those things when i was in high school. and lo and behold, those were my, say it, friends.

but, a few years later, i i don't know right now. i might know where one lives. maybe. interesting, isn't it? i had 400 now, i'm 40 plus years later. um looking back going, "where did it happen? where did everybody go?" cuz here's the thing. when you're in high school, what is your greatest greatest fear as a guy in high school? that you won't be liked. that they'll make fun of you. that they'll ridicule the pants your mom bought at the yard sale. that yeah, that they won't like the car you drive because their family bought them a truck. all of those things that very same now in our older age seem so very insignificant, but man, at 16 years old, 15, 13 years old. you don't believe it, go to camp next summer.

don't say a word, just sit there and watch. it's the funniest thing. that special junior high camp, that 12, 13 year old, that is so funny. they're coming in smelling like dogs. cuz they've been out sweating like a pound of sweat. and then church starts and they didn't bathe or anything and they come in smelling like they walked through dillard's. what did you don't you think there's showers in your dorm? what are what are they demonstrating? change is all >> >> hard. oh, and then that one girl sees them. i i did so i thought it was so cool last summer i got to go i didn't get didn't have to this summer. last summer i got to. and i thought it was so cool to watch, you know, these you know, you're like, "dude, you ain't even cool.

you're you're as as my as as was said in high school, your head might you might be cool, but your head's shaped like an air conditioner." i mean, not cool at all. they but you just knew it. yeah, i'll tell them dating myself. you could buy coke and a popsicle for 50 cents. i was high cotton, buddy. so my dad give me a dollar a day get five bucks to go to camp. buddy, all of a sudden, man, i'd spend it like monday. the rest of the week i'm >> send them all in. >> yeah, just keep shoveling them in, right? but here here's the thing. as you grow and mature, all of things change. situations alter. i don't know where most of those guys are now. what what what am i what am i describing to you?

who i thought was my friends quite honestly were not. they were simply part of my scaffolding in life. they were helping me grow, mature. i i back revert back i've got i got yeah, i got a minute. that 10-year reunion i went to. funniest thing i i come in and i joined the military. i'd gotten out of the military, um went to school, gotten out of school, working. i walk into a 10-year reunion and the guy the guy that was the jock or whatever, you know, the the guy that was everybody cheered on on the football field and the basketball court all that. that dude's like 492 lb, you know, he's and i was always worried about what he thought about me. anybody?

or the guy that walks in that used to be real vain, had like the hair all in place and now he's bald. we're all like, "wait a minute." one guy one guy interesting, he had not cut his hair since graduation. so, his ponytail was like down here to his thigh. we're like, "you're the weirdest thing." um i figured out very quickly after 10 years, those those guys weren't my friends. on the other hand, on the other hand, i can get with you guys at a shooting range, heaven forbid somebody get hurt, or at a restaurant, or at a class like this as drawn mentioned, and man, i can feel the unity. i can feel the the harmony if i if you will of the spirit that's working. what what's different about high school youth and now being in a in a church of men?

what's changed? priorities. what else? values, certainly. what else? your direction, absolutely. yeah. yeah, what else? i'm convinced that as men once we have faith and virtue and temperance and patience and godliness, these things are working in our lives, god is actually developing us and making us because we have become what is the second to the last one? godliness. we have started to pursue the things of god. now with god on the scene there's a point of reference, common denominator that brings us together. cool thing about it is guys is is as men, that's one of our greatest challenges though is to have friends. i mean friends. not somebody that hey how you doing? no. not somebody that you that you i think they're i'm not really sure.

but somebody that you actually care about. i've got probably two man yeah, probably two. men in my life that i consider to be friends. i got to pick up a conversation and 12 years later the phone ring and they hey, remember that? yeah. anybody? maybe maybe you guys got all kinds of friends. >> is that not counting family, right? >> that's right. family doesn't count because you got to love them. you're like in the blood, you know. >> yeah, cuz it's like i get honestly yeah, there's like two or three maybe. >> maybe. anybody? anybody else different? >> >> and i don't mean on facebook the pokes or whatever those are that you get. he friended me to bffs on on on here.

i i i see sometimes i see somebody post images on my wife's facebook and it's funny steven. i'm with my bff right now. i'm like well, that's cool and then a week later i'm with my bff and it's somebody else i'm like i thought best friends forever was like you only have one. apparently not. apparently you can have a hundred best friends forever. anybody else? how many friends you got? i think it's a fair question. everybody right now is going no, that doesn't count. how about uh no, no. that he's dead. uh >> do we do we get to cut out like our wives as friends? >> yeah, th- those aren't your friends. >> oh, yeah. >> that's just by association. >> by association. >> that's right.

because honestly, if your wife wasn't a friend or his wife >> >> you >> not my husband's friend. it's an inconvenience. >> yeah. >> >> yeah, i'll go fishing with him. >> anybody anybody different? why is that such a challenge for men? >> my priorities aren't making friends. my priority is doing what i need to do to take care of my family right now. making friends is not necessarily the top priority. >> you would almost think though that just by association, just by the job or by the the neighborhood or by the interest that that those relationships would develop, you would think. anybody else? >> i think it is. the difference between just associates and friends is investment.

>> wh- which one takes more? >> friends take more investment. >> well, then why don't we have more of them? >> cuz we don't invest. >> don't we? >> i think it depends. >> on? i got one-word responses here cuz you're you're on a track. keep going. it depends on what? >> it's our those are we should share values. >> oh, okay. >> if they're not on the same track, then it's going to be hard to really spend any time and and and create those those connections and those things. >> if you never put yourself in the environment to do that. >> or or you choose not to. >> yeah. >> cuz you could.

i mean, quite honestly, if i may, if it is truly to be a friend to somebody, you could go to the places they go to because of being a friend is or you could go hang out or you could go to the or spend your money like they do. >> your friends you usually like-minded. >> which means? >> you think alike. >> okay. >> you can maybe some differences and differences, but usually you're thinking the same. >> be- because of similarities and in your interests and so forth. okay. i'm sorry? >> different location. >> could be. you live too far apart or whatever. >> i have a best friend of mine right now that lives in michigan. he's my wedding and probably pick up over that time. >> okay.

>> and like i go visit him and >> how much how much investment do you have in that relationship? >> a lot. it's childhood, do you say? >> okay, so way back. so you're you're you're 20 years plus in this relationship. >> yes, sir. >> okay, anybody else? >> i have the same situation. like i've got people that you know, when i got to virginia, i was there for 19 years. you know, there's people that i was there with for so long. it's yeah. those are the two of the three living in virginia. so that that is kind of hard to invest, but it's it's like you said, it's like we can not talk for months and then just pick right back up with it. >> yeah. anybody else?

it's an interesting dynamic with humanity. >> there are some that you think are friends that you see every day and like three >> well, there is that. >> >> and you also have older friendships that that's how those go apart. >> why? >> both get busy. >> yeah, lives going yeah, you're right. >> or you move. >> sure, distance again is a thing. anyone else? yeah. >> it's the choices people make. >> true. >> once they all change it. >> right. okay. all right, here here's the thing. here's the thing. i think and and thank you guys for open conversation cuz here here's what i'm hearing. i think all of us understand as we mature we are adding to ourselves things.

and the priorities change. the direction that we felt important begins to take a different light. um there was a young man in the scripture, it's worth i think mentioning, and his name was jonathan. do you remember jonathan in the bible? he was what? >> friend of david. >> he was also >> son of saul. >> he was saul's son. >> saul's son. the bible has so many cool references to jonathan and david. says he loved him as himself. he invested in him. he in fact, he he laid his life down many times for that relationship. >> didn't david save jonathan's lineage? >> well, i mean, you could yeah, you could take that as long as far as you want to through that. absolutely. here's the question though for that.

why why can't we today have those kinds of friend commitments? >> maybe. >> i think we don't want to. >> do we choose it or we just don't realize or or know the okay, let me paint them what's my clock. okay. genesis gives the account that god created chapter two there's a there's a short short little blurb in chapter two. it is not good for man to be alone. god god did not make a friend for adam. what did he make? help me. so we can't consider that to be the same. we can understand though the principle behind the loneliness that men face and why we can't or don't or choose not to invest in friendships. back in high school days as i mentioned it was easier because you didn't have a choice.

8 hours a day you're in school, you know, you're right, wrong, good, bad, or ugly, you're hanging out together. and then when when when you graduate and you move the tassel all of a sudden everything changes and life begins to unfold. things happen. now there are some that keep those relationships. i think it's very rare. and then as others some of you mentioned the distance it's still not quite the same. i mean it's it's okay, but you're still living life. you're still moving through your stages if you will of life, but there's something guys that i want to mention tonight in in this last session of greater men. i think that there is a skill that men forget to learn. a skill of friendship. i know i do.

and it's more than you know, many times i don't want to get in trouble, but many times when somebody you know or have known calls you for something or calls you to talk to you or calls you to greet you or wish you happy birthday, the back of your mind, you may or may not be thinking, >> >> "i wonder if he's still messed up. he was last time i talked to him." or, "oh, now what's he want?" i'm not going to answer that. let me wait till i'm driving and then i can't hear and then i can blame it on the coverage. i'm joking. cuz i know some of y'all do that to me when i call. anyway, the skill of friendship. the skill of friendship.

we'll have skills of of welding and shop work and writing and computers, it, and um engineering, call it what any anything, doesn't matter. but sometimes the very simple skill of friendship is one that we don't do well at. i think greater men, you guys, you need friends. which means you've got to be willing to a, open yourself up, b, be opened up to, so that you can develop and grow. the david and jonathan scenario did not simply happen. jonathan had all rights to the throne because of his father. but the relationship built, he transferred his respect and honor to what was going to be his, he transferred that to david. the beauty of that is this. look where it got him. huh? look what it got him.

man, it got him the throne, protection, survival. hey, one time it got him water from a well that he used to drink out of as a kid. friendships did. proverbs, of course, this is the wise guy, 18:24, you all know this. a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. and there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. that fraternal word again. y'all read that with me out loud. a man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. so, does that mean that there's a difference between a friend and a brother? what is the difference according to the wise guy? i i would just read that.

>> what's the difference in a friend and a brother or that friend that sticks closer than a brother? >> so? >> just going to be there. >> well? >> brothers and friends. >> what's the difference between you brothers and a friend? >> blood and not blood. >> a brother is blood and not blood. >> a brother is going to be there for you no matter >> okay. what else? greater men greater men make wise choices. to faith they add virtue, to virtue they add they add they add they add one of the hardest things quite honestly is loving friends and brothers.

you know, i know tim dogs at this iron sharpening iron, and that has a connotation and a context that is far deeper than what we could even imagine. the beauty of that lesson though is simply this. we have choices we can make. as friends. so, i i don't think that i'm asking anybody in here to hug on one another and and lay upon the each other's bosom and tend to things as you endear yourself to them. i love us thou and thy genesises. things like that. do what? yeah, holy and holy kissed. that would be one, right? singular. no, the point is this, guys. greater men oh, greater men are okay to invest in the things of god. and it takes an investment. takes a choice. got to make a decision. men, we need friends.

i'm not saying that all we got to be buddy-buddy, we got to go on hunting trips together and all that. uh there are some people that go on hunting trips that are not friends. only one comes back, but i'm joking. >> >> guys, i would admonish you. of course, i'm on this end now. i'm not on that end. i'm on this end. uh that fourth quarter, they call it. uh this is what i want to admonish you to do, guys. at whatever level, stage of place in life you are, find out the biblical context of friends and develop that. invest in that. a friend that sticks closer than a brother would be the guy that'll be there because he chooses to be there. hey man, i'm stuck in the ditch. can you help? absolutely, i'm on my way.

or hey, i just need somebody to come and sit down here for a few minutes. don't say a word. you know, men, we don't have to be like our wives make us to be. they can sit, chat, chatter, talk about everything and they they do everything gets thrown out. you know, i i've got i've got a couple of guys that i consider somewhat friends. probably seasonal friends, when the season's good. and we don't have to talk. you know, michelle's always making fun. she be, "did you say hi to that?" i did. "well, you didn't say nothing." i did. i went she said, "well, that ain't saying nothing." absolutely it is. ain't that right? what? that's enough, right? she's like, "y'all didn't talk." yes, we did. you don't even know what we just said. no, i don't. okay.

it's a code. it's a fraternal code. friends. friends. so, to end this series this could have gone in a hundred directions, but i really feel like that god is trying to help us. that the end of this at addition statement is to brotherly kindness at charity, at love. and that comes through the relationship choices you make. the investment choices you make. and the way that you invest those things. i think god wants you to have friends. not just acquaintances, not just folk that will be there if they got time. but folk that you can actually invest in and they can invest in you. >> do we have to be friends to accept? >> that's up choice up to you. if his wife says yes so uh i i want to recommend a book, justin erickson.

have anybody read this one? friendships every man needs. anybody anybody read it? do you do you have this book? friendships. huh? >> perfect example. >> that's on page 47. i'm joking. um there are things people that you need in your life that gentlemen that are going to help you navigate life. and you need friends to be greater men. you're going to it's going to take friends. i mean real friends. okay? so, the purpose in friends is more than just to give you something to pass the time, but it's actually to help you to bear fruit. did you notice that? that we read in 2 peter. you'll bear fruit if you've got these things working in your life.

you'll be able to established boundaries and limitations if you've got these things working in your life. i feel like some of the messes that we've gotten ourselves into as men is because we don't have friends holding us accountable or helping us to navigate some of the choices we make. greater men have greater friends. okay? so, i want to challenge you men. do some inventory, self-evaluation, then look to see if somebody might be your friend. you could actually write it in a note, will you be my friend? check yes or no. sorry, that was elementary school, right? who wants this book? eli, do you have this book? who wants it? all right, whoever comes and gets it, you can have it. pray with me.

lord, we love you today and we're thankful for our time together. thankful for the power of the holy ghost. thankful for the power of friendships. lord, i know that as men we are very, very limited on our abilities to be friends and to have friends, but pray god that you would bless these men. help us, lord, to be greater men, men that will have friends that will show ourselves friendly, lord, that will commit to connect with others, that will make differences in other people's lives through the process of growth and maturity. i love you for that, lord, and i thank you and i claim it tonight, god, that we are going to grow together as men. our church family is going to grow because we invested in each other and one another.

bless, lord, tonight the remainder of our time together. help us as a church family. we love you. we honor you and we thank you. in jesus' name we pray. amen.