Discern True Friends

Choose your friends wisely. The Holy Bible tells us about friends. It says a friend is closer than a brother to you, meaning the friend is as influential as your own partner in marriage.

That means friendship is extremely dangerous if we do not choose it wisely. You see, how much does your wife influence you so as your friend can influence you? How much does your husband influence you? Maybe nowadays not much. It's more so the wife.

But how much your partner can influence you so as your friend. That's why the Holy Bible says when you choose friends, make sure you do not exceed three. Uh-oh, I think I'm talking to myself here.

Bishop, you're making it very difficult now. Brother, what am I going to do? I have about 200 of them. You know, you need to have, if you are going to choose a friend, choose a friend that you can trust blindfolded.

You know why? Because a friend, in the friendship, all levels are equal. All levels are equal in friendship. The moment the level is equal, you will open up and tell your secrets to that friend.

The reason why you open up and tell your secrets to a person is when you see that person in the same level as you are. If that person is not in your level, you will never open up. Why? Because you know, if you talk, they will misunderstand you or they will not understand you at all.

That's why so many times the son doesn't speak to his dad, but he speaks to his friend. The daughter doesn't speak to her mom and she speaks to her friend. Why? Because if the mother treats that child as a mother, that child will never open up.

Because the mother's level is here and the daughter's level is here. Two different levels cannot fathom, cannot comprehend. If the father level is here and the son's level here, they will not understand.

When will the levels become one? When the father befriends his son and when the mother befriends her daughter. The moment we are friends, we are equal level, then I'll tell you what's in my heart. That's why friends must be chosen wisely and closely, because the moment they know about you, if they're not trustworthy, they will let the whole world know about you.

And the more friends you have, the more heads you have, meaning the more different intellect you have. So the more friends, the more different perspective, the more different opinions, the more different vision. So next time you want to do something, you'll have a hundred different ideas.

You want to ask for advice, you'll get a hundred different advices. Which one do you take? You don't know, you're lost. That's why you need to come to someone like me.

One head, one idea can't go wrong. And I'll say to you, you want to marry this guy? Let me scan him for you. IMV that MRI scan.

I'll scan him and then I'll send you a full report and I'll say, yes, he's got a thick head, good head, no head at all, forget it. Choose a friend that loves Jesus Christ of Nazareth, exactly the way you choose your partner in marriage. If you do not choose your partner in marriage that loves the Lord, you will have problems.

Because if the two do not agree on Christ, there will never be peace in that household. If the husband says, I want to go to church and the wife says no, or the wife says, I want to go to church and the husband says no, then there will be issues. And especially when the children come, what are you going to do? Are you going to go on your own, leave the children behind and your partner? Or are you going to take the children and leave your husband or your wife behind? The whole family must worship the Lord like Joshua, son of Nun.

As for me and my family, we worship the Lord. Incredible, amazing, amazing, Joshua. That's why he entered the promised land with the Israelite nations.

He led them into the promised land because he and his family worshiped the Lord Jesus. Make your home a church. This church that you come to on Sundays, this is called the universal church.

There are three kinds of churches. One is called the individual church, second is called the family church, and third is called the universal church. Each one of them is made out of three components.

The personal church is made out of body, soul, and spirit, three. I am the church because I'm made out of three, body, soul, and spirit. The family church is made out of three, father, mother, and children, three.

And the universal church is made out of three, priest, deacon, and faithful. And God is triune. Three.

That's where love is revealed. When the three come together in that unity of love for Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So when will we die to ourself in order to live for Christ? If giving up on a cigarette is too hard to do, when will I fulfill the law? If giving up on chocolate is too hard, if giving up on material things is too difficult, like I can't when I see a Lamborghini, I just can't, I have to have it.

I can't say I don't have a Ferrari or a private jet. Now if someone in the world has a private jet, yes, but someone in the church has a private jet, but why? What do you need the private jet for? Your portion is Christ, not the private jet. Your portion is Christ, not the mansion.

Your portion is Christ, not money. And as Christians, we do not belong to this world. We live in it, but we are not of it.

For Christ has chosen us and purchased us with his precious blood, took us out of the world to live for him, no longer for me, for him. So my son, my daughter, I beg you, every time you do something wrong, run to the Lord Jesus. Don't ever run away from him.

Run to him and say, Lord, I made a mistake, I sinned, I am ashamed of myself. And the Holy Spirit just reminded me, the Lord Jesus came for the sinners and he says, there are two kinds of sinners. One is the sheep and one is the pig.

Both of them are equally sinners, but there is a difference between this sinner and that. The pig loves filth. There is a kind of people when they sin, they love it like the pig.

When they sin, they enjoy it. And if they don't sin, there is something wrong. But there are kind of people like the sheep.

When the sheep gets dirty, oh, it loses it. I can't stand being dirty. The sheep hates filth.

That's true. Ask people that know about animals. They will tell you the sheep can't stand filth, dirt.

The moment they get dirty, they will come, they say, please clean me immediately. I can't stand it. I'm suffocating.

Pig gets dirty, starts breathing. The sheep gets dirty, starts suffocating. The Lord says, I came for those who sin and suffocate.

I came to save them. I came for those, when they sin, they run to me, begging me for mercy, begging me for forgiveness, because they can't stand the sinful status. These are the people that I came to choose.

And these sinners, if they hold on to me, I will make them saints in heaven. I'll bring them perfect like me, without a stain, without a spot, without a scratch, without a blemish. We will be like Christ, or Christ-like.

Perfect. From sinners to saints, from worldly to heavenly, from earthly to spiritually, from slaves to sons of God. That's what Christ is offering all of us every single moment of our life.

And what are we doing? Too busy for him? Too preoccupied with material things that are absolute vanity? And Christ has given us the heaven of all heavens. Christ has given us not only heaven, he's given us himself. He is much greater than heaven.

You see, it is Christ who makes heaven, heaven. If it wasn't for Christ, there wouldn't have been heaven. That's why my advice is always to you.

It's what I'm about to say, don't get me wrong. Yes, there is hell. Yes, there is heaven.

And some people believe there is something in between. But regardless what you believe, and the Bible tells us that there is hell and there is heaven, yes. But I'll say this to you, don't focus on hell or heaven, focus on Christ.

In Psalm 23, verse 4, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yea, though I walk through hell, the valley of the shadow, the shadow of death is hell, yea, though I walk through hell, I will fear no Satan, because Jesus is with me. And when Jesus is with me, then wherever he goes, it's heaven. Amen.

I pray and we ask the Lord Jesus from the bottom of our heart that he grants us this precious gift. Lord, teach me how to live for you. I just want to live for you, Lord.

My daughter, if you're getting married, don't focus on the man that you're marrying. If he's got money, if he's got wisdom, if he's got this and that, focus on Christ that is in his heart. Amen.