WEEK 1
 
DESCRIPTION
In this teaching, Pastor Blunt starts a series about the importance of having the right friendships. This week he talks about the need for those friendships and what those friendships should look like. We believe as you read these notes God's Word is working in and through you.
 
NOTES
1.    Need for right friendships.
2.    How to choose the right friends.
3.    How to build and nurture friendships.
 

•    We need strong friendships to have a strong life.
•    It’s not God’s will for us to be alone.
•    Being alone is a curse, punishment.
 
Relationships are not friendships. We might have relationships with a lot of people but those are not necessarily our friends. We can have a relationship with the world and sinners but we can’t be friends. God said if you are a friend of the world you can’t be a friend of His.
 
James 3:17 – 18 Message
17 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced.
•    We need to be there for others, be loyal.
 
18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.
 
•    If I want to live right with others, I need to first be right with God. If not, I’ll carry my problems over to others.
•    Sometimes we don’t get along because we are bringing our problems into the friendship instead of giving them to God.
•    We don’t want friends who don’t love themselves, are not right with God.
•    One of the worst things we can do is live life alone.
 
What a real friend looks like:
1.    They love you as you are.
2.    They see who you are and who you can become.
3.    They understand your past, but believe in your future and accept you today as you are.                        
         a.     We all are a product of our past.
4.    Accepts your worst, but helps you become your best.
5.    Is there to catch you when you fall.
6.    Stay with you when everyone else has left you.
7.    You can share your victory with, and they won’t get jealous.
8.    Is going in the same direction you are.
         a.    Fulfilling God’s purpose for their life.
 
1 Corinthians 15:33
33 Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character.
•    Your friends will corrupt or build your character.
 
Proverbs 13:20 (KJV)
20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
•    We need to choose wise people as friends.
 
Call to Action:
1.    Daily Proverb (look for the word fool and wise).
2.    Pray that God will show you the real friends.
3.    Invest in your friends, do random acts of kindness.
 
GOLDEN NUGGETS
•    One of the worst things we can do is live life alone.
•    We need strong friends to have a strong life.

WEEK 2
DESCRIPTION
In this teaching, Pastor Blunt continues the series about the importance of having the right friendship. This week he teaches us how to find the right friendship. We believe as you read these notes God's Word is working in and through you.

NOTES
Relationships are not friendships. We might have relationships with a lot of people but those aren’t necessarily our friends. We can have a relationship with the world and sinners but we can’t be friends. God said if you are a friend of the world you can’t be a friend of His.
 
We need to have relationships with the world but friendships in the Church.
 
We can’t break an addiction if we are hanging with the crew that gave it to us.
 
How to build a great friendship:
1.    Trust
2.    Respect
3.    Honesty
 
What will destroy relationships:
1.    Selfishness
2.    Stubbornness
 
What a real friend looks like:
1.    They love you as you are.
2.    They see who you are and who you can become.
3.    They understand your past, but believes in your future and accepts you today as you are.
a.    We all are a product of our past.
4.    Accepts your worst but helps you become your best.
5.    Is there to catch you when you fall.
6.    Stays with you when everyone else has left you.
7.    You can share your victory with, and they won’t get jealous.
8.    Is going in the same direction you are.
a.    Fulfilling God’s purpose for their life.
 
Proverbs 18:24 ESV
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
 
•    God has a friend for you that will stick with you till the end.
 
Proverbs 13:20 KJV
20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
 
•    We will become like the friends we hang with.
•    Every human being has a spirit. We need to discern the spirit on a person we are building a friendship with because that spirit will jump off on us.
•    The spirit we yield to the most is the spirit we will look more like (behavior and characteristics).
•    We want to look like the Holy Spirit.
 
There are either wise people or foolish people.  We need to make sure our friends are wise. When we read Proverbs. It teaches us who is wise(friend) and who is a fool(relationship).
 
Call to Action:
1.    Daily Proverb (look for the word fool and wise).
2.    Pray that God will show you the real friends.
3.    Invest in your Friends.
4.    Every week do a random act of kindness for a fríend.

Some verses that teach us who should or shouldn’t be our friends:
 
Proverbs 22:24
24 Make no friendships with a man given to anger, and with a wrathful man do not associate.
 
Psalms 14:1 AMPC
1 The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable deeds; there is none that does good or right.
 
Psalms 49:10-11 AMPC
10 For he sees that even wise men die; the [self-confident] fool and the stupid alike perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands their own [apart from God] and after their own names.
 
•    A fool is not thinking of eternity or the future and only cares about the present.
 
GOLDEN NUGGETS
•    Your friends determine your future.
•    You’ll never rise above your friends. 
 
Confession
•    God has ordained friends for me.
•    I am wise and I am choosing the right friends.

WEEK 3
 
DESCRIPTION
In this teaching, Pastor Blunt continues a series about the importance of having the right friendships. We all have been hurt through relationships, but with the right skills, we can choose better ones. We believe as you read these notes God's Word is working in and through you.
 
BIG IDEA
•    Have stronger relationships and friendships today so you can have a stronger future.
 
NOTES
•    It’s important who we allow in our life. One wrong relationship can be the end for us.
 
What will destroy relationships:
1.    Selfishness
2.   Stubbornness: When we are stubborn we are prideful. After pride comes the fall.
 
How to build a great friendship:
1.    Trust - Trust isn’t given but earned.
2.    Respect - We can’t receive from someone we don’t respect.
3.    Honesty.
 
How to restore friendships:
1.    Changing.
2.    Growing (if one person is growing and the other isn’t, they won’t stay together).
3.    Adapting (priorities, behavior, speaking).
 
What a real friend looks like:
1.    They love you as you are.
2.    They see who you are and who you can become.
3.    Understand your past but believes in your future and accepts you today as you are.
a.    We all are a product of our past.
4.    Accepts your worst but helps you become your best.
5.    Is there to catch you when you fall.
6.    Stays with you when everyone else has left you.
7.    You can share your victory and they won’t get jealous.
8.    Is going in the same direction you are.
a.     Fulfilling God’s purpose for their life.

The Law of Association
 
Proverbs 13:20 MSG
20Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.
-We are going where our friends are going.
-If I hang out with fools my life will go to pieces. If I hang out with the wise, I will become fulfilled.
 
•    Every human being has a spirit. Whoever we are building a friendship with, we need to discern what the spirit the person has because that spirit will jump off on us.
•    The spirit we yield to the most is the spirit we will look more like (behavior and characteristics).
•    We want to look like the Holy Spirit.
 
There are either wise people or foolish people. We need to make sure our friends are wise. When we read Proverbs, it teaches us who is wise (friend) and who is foolish or mockers or scorners or simple or wicked (relationship).
 
2 Kings 2:9-15
 9And when they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. 10 He said, you have asked a hard thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you—but if not, it shall not be so.
 
•    You can’t have it until you see it (healing, debt cancelation, any kind of blessing).
 
11 As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

•    We won’t trust in the natural but in God as our source.
 
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 And he took the mantle that fell from Elijah and struck the waters and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the waters, they parted this way and that, and Elisha went over.

•    Elisha asked for a double portion. In the Bible, it is recorded that Elijah did 7 miracles, but Elisha did 14 miracles.
 
15When the sons of the prophets who were [watching] at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

•    We catch people’s spirit.
 
What to look for when choosing friends:
1.    Will they draw me closer to God?
2.    Will they make me hungrier for God?
3.    Will they help me fulfill God’s purpose for my life?
 
GOLDEN NUGGETS
-The stronger our friendships, the stronger our life will be.
- Our friends are our future.

WEEK 4
 
DESCRIPTION
In this teaching, Pastor Blunt continues a series about the importance of having the right friendships. This week we focus on restoration, not only for relationships but also for our lives. We believe that as you read these notes, God's Word is working in and through you.
 
NOTES
Restore: to repent, return, renew and repair. Reset, to mend, to make whole.
 
There can be no restoration without repentance.
 
When David felt alone he encouraged himself in the Lord (atmosphere).
 
We will not receive restoration until we change our atmosphere.
 
Every day you need to speak to your house, marriage, relationships, health: RESTORE, RESTORE, RESTORE!
 
How to build  great friendships:
1.    Trust (trust isn’t given but earned).
2.    Respect (we can’t receive from someone we don’t respect).
3.    Honesty (be lovingly truthful, think before you speak).
 
How to restore friendships:
1.    Changing
a.    Before restoration comes repentance. Repentance is changing your mind and going in a new direction.
2.    Growing (if one person is growing and the other isn’t, they won’t stay together).
3.    Adapting (priorities, behavior, speaking).
4.    Adjusting.
 
Reasons why we need to restore relationships and avoid unresolved conflict:
1.    It breaks our relationship with God.
2.    It blocks our prayers.
a.    If we have unresolved conflict God won’t answer our prayers.
3.    It blocks our happiness (James 3).
 
7 ways to resolve conflict according to Galatians 6:1-5.
 
Galatians 6: 1-5 TLB
1Dear brothers, if a Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help him back onto the right path, remembering that next time it might be one of you who is in the wrong. 2 Share each other’s troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord’s command. 3 If anyone thinks he is too great to stoop to this, he is fooling himself. He is really a nobody. 4 Let everyone be sure that he is doing his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work well done and won’t need to compare himself with someone else. 5Each of us must bear some faults and burdens of his own. For none of us is perfect!
 
1.    It’s our responsibility to restore others.
a.    First, you must make sure that person wants to be restored.
2.     Do not judge.
3.    Do not take the credit for the restoration.
4.    Stay humble.
5.    Point them to depend on God and not on you.
a.    When you point them to God their burden becomes lighter.
6.    Help them develop their relationship with God.
a.    Suggest resources, tools, personal growth plan, skill set.
7.    Help them reset (restore) their mindset.
a.    All changes start with renewing the mind.

Matthew 11:28-30 KJV
-Change their mindset to this.
 
James 5:19,20 NIV
-There is a reward for restoring others.
 
Matthew 5:9 KJV
-When you sow seeds of peace you will be happy and satisfied in this world and rewarded in the next.
 
 
GOLDEN NUGGETS
•    There can be no restoration without repentance.
 
CONFESSION
•    RESTORE, RESTORE, RESTORE!