CGN International Conference: S6.E16 with Mark Foreman

[00:00:02] Welcome back to the CGN Podcast. I'm Daniel Williams, your host for this season, and it has been a great season. We're going to end this season with this episode from Mark Foreman, our last session from the CGN International Conference. And we've been talking a lot in this season about being the church in the world, whether it be the first half of this season, interviewing some of the guests that were at our conference, worship leaders, workshop speakers, main session speakers, or just hearing the Bible studies about this topic. And you're

[00:00:32] going to hear a great Bible study today as we end with Mark Foreman, who's a pastor in San Diego, and has done a lot of work with a lot of different churches in that area, really bringing unity and just talking about friendship, not only with one another, but with God and being one that is a practitioner of collaboration and community. He did a great job and you're going to enjoy this Bible study. But before we get into his Bible study, I want to give you an opportunity to let you know that we're going to be doing another season and hearing the global impact of

[00:01:02] people in our network, the Calvary Global Network, Calvary Chapel pastors all over the world, and interviewing and hearing people of what God is doing all around the world from Hungary to Mexico to man, just all over the world. It's going to be really exciting. And we're going to be taking a little bit of a pause over the holidays. After the first of the year, we'll get right back into it as far as recording and get these episodes and content out to you as quickly

[00:01:28] as possible. But we don't want to rush things. We want to give you good quality content, and we don't want to just be one sided. I want to let you know about an opportunity, how you can get connected with us and be able to not only be poured into, but pour into one another and build relationship. At CGN, we want to form leaders. We want to strengthen churches. We want to advance the kingdom, and we want to do this together. And so we're going to be launching online cohorts, online cohorts

[00:01:53] for lead pastors. And then we'll get down to missionaries and church planners and all these different types of cohorts. But we're going to start in January with a cohorts for lead pastors, where we can actually pour into one another. And we want to pour into you what a cohort is, is a group of six to 10 guys getting together and being equipped for being that lead pastor position and that role that God's called them to do. And we want to go through some shared convictions. We

[00:02:23] want to build meaningful relationships. We want to give you practical tools to help local churches and families build up in the faith and the God-given mission that they've been given. And so in each sort of cohort meeting, it's going to be a 90 minute cohort meeting where you'll experience other network pastors within our movement. We'll be able to have a video teaching. We'll have some guided discussion, practical applications, and really it's a great pathway to meet other people.

[00:02:50] What does it mean for us to do this thing together, to be the church in the world together? We're going to learn those things. We want to build up leaders in our movement and our network, and we just have some shared convictions. And so being gospel-centered and Jesus at the center, how do we apply that? Lead pastors and within our church, and to be able to collaborate and get ideas and tools for this.

[00:03:15] We know that at Calvary Chapel, scripture is a foundation. And so even learning different Bible techniques to just thinking about how to articulate the gospel and how to preach the gospel and having kingdom impact and how to be able to glean for scriptures for yourself, even as a pastor. We want to talk about these core convictions of being kingdom vision, how we're better together,

[00:03:42] how we, what does it look like for being on mission and how do you give vision for your church for those things. And so we just want to be able to let you know something's down the pipeline. It's coming. We want relational care and connection. And so we're going to have monthly one-on-one meetings along with his cohort. If you sign up for a cohort, you'll get a coaching call and a mentor and someone to walk alongside of you. Because we know as a pastor, you don't just lead a

[00:04:10] church. You lead yourself. You lead a family. You need to grow personally. We want to help you with that. And so church health and ministry molecules will be very helpful for us to walk together. And we hope it's a blessing to you. And so I say all that because you can actually get information for that coming soon before the first of the year, before the season even launches, you can go to cgn.org and it's going to be a year long commitment to walk through a lot of great leadership formation for

[00:04:38] your own personal growth, but it will benefit your church and your leadership. So that way we can impact the kingdom together. Man, I'm really excited how God is moving and working within our movement, building not only online community, but also the practical side of an Israel trip and forming relationships through that, or maybe doing mission together and going to Colombia or Brazil. How about getting poured into more from another conference, whether it be the international conference

[00:05:07] next year in California, or man, going around the world and traveling and seeing what different cultures are doing from the UK to Mallorca, Spain, to Lima, Peru. There is so much going on. And so I just wanted to say thank you so much for allowing me to host this season for listening and participating and sharing with your friends and ministry people that you know that, hey, would benefit from this content.

[00:05:34] Like, subscribe, do all the things, but just know that we want to be a blessing to you. And this isn't done. It's just the end of this season. And we're going to get into our last Bible study with Mark Foreman, but then we will have another conference. We will have more content coming. We'll have online cohorts. We'll have opportunity for outreach, for mission. We want to preach the gospel, make disciples,

[00:05:56] plant churches, and continue to do this thing together. So without further ado, man, may you be blessed as you listen to this last session from the CGN International Conference with Mark Foreman as he did such a great job closing us out. And man, you'll be blessed as we close out the season from this Bible study by Mark Foreman. It's so good to be with you all.

[00:06:24] Can you just turn to the person next to you and say, let's be friends? Can you do that? I know you already are. But I'm going to talk about that in just a moment. But before I do, I just have to tell you that

[00:06:47] this place brings back so many memories for me. Not just this sanctuary, but the tent that used to be there, the old chapel. Jan and I were one of the last couples married in the old chapel. Came to Christ in 69. So I'm really one of those dinosaurs.

[00:07:16] C.S. Lewis, when he moved from Oxford to Cambridge, he gave this lecture talk. I forget the name of it. But he said, you know, I stand in front of you as a dinosaur. And he said, if we actually saw a dinosaur, and we're all running away screaming, maybe it's a Tyrannosaurus rex, and we're running away screaming,

[00:07:43] wouldn't one of us be tempted to turn around and see and smell and hear what a real dinosaur is? Because all of it, we've fabricated that in the movies. We don't really know what they smell. We look probably like a blue-bellied lizard, but maybe not. We really don't know what they growled

[00:08:08] like, or if they did, or if they grunted. We don't, wouldn't you be tempted? And then C.S. Lewis says, I stand in front of you today as that dinosaur. Just inviting people to come and learn from him. Well, I think many of you could teach me far more than I could possibly teach you, but this sanctuary has so

[00:08:32] many memories for me. Let me, yeah, you can see my dad there on the right in the blue, and he's with Chuck. They're both in their mid-40s when they met. And my dad had, he was on Chuck's board for 25 years. And yeah, that's my beautiful wife and me when I had hair. And I think that was right before we got

[00:08:57] married. But my dad, when he knew that I was coming to old Calvary Chapel, and he came to check it out. I was 18, and he saw, it was not a whole lot of people. There's maybe about 300 people. That one

[00:09:21] year it grew from 300 to 1500. But he saw hippies, and he was concerned. So he made an appointment for me to come with him to meet with Chuck. My dad was the city engineer of Santa Ana, and he asked Chuck, I heard him say these words, do you spike the communion? He thought that they were putting drugs

[00:09:47] in the communion, and that was attractional to hippies coming. My mother and Kay became great friends. They traveled the world together. My sister was this assistant. We called them secretaries in those days to Romaine. And so she had a whole load of stories about Romaine. But I just grew up right down

[00:10:16] the street. In fact, there's a friend of mine that graduated with me from Santa Ana High. And so here we are. But some of the really enduring memories is my grandparents, because I wasn't raised a Christian. I became one, then my mom, and then my sister, and then my dad. But my grandparents in their late 70s came back here. I get choked up

[00:10:45] to this prayer room to accept Christ. So, great memories. And I remember when I was teaching up at the Bible College, Chuck would call me and ask me to teach, because the retreat was coming up, and somebody canceled or something. And so I had

[00:11:12] three hours, two hours to prepare. And then Chuck would sit on the front row right here. So intimidating to be someone in my mid-20s, trying to figure out what I wanted to say. But I'm honored to be with you. I feel like here we are as Gideon's army. Don't you feel that way?

[00:11:38] Do you remember the story how it just kept getting whittled down because there were too many? Too many. And so I'm excited about what God might do out of this time. And the context that I accepted Christ, I think, is no different than where we are today. So it's, we're ripe for revival. The 60s. The 60s. Three assassinations. Kent State.

[00:12:07] Protests all over the country, over Vietnam. We all probably have friends that died in Vietnam. Crazy, crazy times with presidents that dribbled over into the 70s and looks a little bit like today. So I'm excited.

[00:12:34] Some good things can come out of this. Well, I have loved the theme of For Such a Time as This. I think it's so appropriate that we're thinking that way. Because there's two things that strike me out of the great teachings that we've heard and going back to the book of Esther. That there they were

[00:12:55] in Iran, ironically. There they were in Iran. And it was for such a time as this. In a different kind of culture. Culture changing. And Esther actually modeling for us some things that we all need to do to be cross-cultural in where we live, in our neighborhoods and so forth, and as we travel the world.

[00:13:24] But two things stand out to me. One is the emphasis that I've heard this week on unity. Love. That's so profound. I remember reading the back of Chuck's bulletin when I first came in here as a hippie.

[00:13:43] We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such. Only the over-emphasis. Can I say that word again? Only the over-emphasis of the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the body of Christ. And so my first impression of Chuck was he was a man of unity.

[00:14:12] He was a man of love. And I'm so impressed that unity is a command in the New Testament. It is a doctrine. Did you know? And the only reason it would be a command is it's tough. It's tough to be in unity in marriage. It's tough to be in unity in anything. We are humans are very tribal. So the fact that we are commanded,

[00:14:40] and that's what I was hearing. And then the second thing that stood out to me is Christ in the world. Because there's Esther in Iran, and she's going to go before the king. It's Christ in the world. What do we do? And that's what I want to take us to, what the Jesus movement was, and how I experienced it, how you experienced it. I didn't experience it as a revolution, although I like the movie.

[00:15:11] People ask me all the time, and I said, well, great storyline. Yes, that is the true storyline, but Chuck was not like that. Chuck was like Moses, and Lonnie was not like that. Lonnie could look at me with his eyes and pierce me. Almost, I mean this with all due respect, almost like a cult leader, where he just like, whoa, he was that guy.

[00:15:40] And it was a movement. It was something where we, with culture, we didn't have a we-they thing going on between us, where we're in our castle shooting at the world, and what's wrong with the world. It wasn't like that. We were coming out of the world, and we looked like people in the world,

[00:16:08] but we had friends in the world, so we were a little bit more missional. It was my only French. It was not we-they separate. It was we-we. We had friends, and as soon as I left the church, and Lonnie had prayed for me to be filled with the Spirit, I immediately wanted to go to my friends and tell them, you're not going to believe this.

[00:16:36] I speak in tongues, and they were all secular people, but I had friends like that, you know, and I feel at times that we need to shovel the salt a little bit more that's piled up in the church. I tell people when I meet them, I'm a salt shoveler. I want to get Christians out of the church, into the world, in the good sense, and create these we-we relationships.

[00:17:04] So, I think the best way to do this is to learn from Jesus what it means to have him as our friend, and to be friends with other people. And my pivotal point now is to just point back to the Jesus movement as we go into the subject of friendship, that in the Jesus movement, we often called Jesus our friend.

[00:17:34] We had songs that were written, Jesus being our friend. And we received criticism from more established churches about calling Jesus our friend, because it was-we were accused of making Jesus trite, like he was just our groovy guru.

[00:17:55] And it would be accused of me that I lost the sense that he was holy, that he was omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, that he was the almighty, that he was the creator. And our sin had caused him to want to send Jesus to be our savior.

[00:18:22] And here you are calling him your friend. And I said, but he is. He's all that. But you might ask, why the incarnation? Why creation? Why make you in the image of-why, why, why? It's for relationship. That was the ultimate goal, that yes, brings him glory.

[00:18:53] So, friendship is not a trite thing. It's a profound thing. And if you and I don't think it's profound, try this out. You're in a crowded elevator. You're squished. The elevator door is closed, and you need more room on the elevator. Just turn to the person next to you and say, hi, I'm the friend of God.

[00:19:19] They will give you all the room you need on the elevator. Because the world sees how profound that is, when oftentimes we don't see the profundity of it. So, yes. It's not casual. It's profound. So, let's go full circle from the days where Jesus was our friend,

[00:19:49] back to those days again. Father, I pray that you would be with us today. Lord, you know that I'm just me, and I need you to stand by me. As I teach your holy word, I pray, God, that you would give us ears to hear what the Spirit would say to us today.

[00:20:15] Open our hearts to receive deeply those nuggets that you have for us in Jesus' name. Amen. So, the first thing I want to say is that friendship with you, Jesus being your friend, God your friend, is his design. And so, if we go back to Genesis, and it's intimidating to teach all these Bible experts out there.

[00:20:43] But if you go back to Genesis 1, 27, we read, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female. The imago Dei, the image of God. Have you ever heard the expression, he or she is the spittin' image? Yeah. Look that up. AI it.

[00:21:11] Depending on which one you use, you'll probably get a little bit of different answers. But it goes all the way back to the 17th or 16th century with the idea that someone, when you see someone, whether it's a son or daughter or cousin, that looks so much like the previous generation, we would say they're the spittin' image.

[00:21:36] Meaning, it's like they spit and out came someone just like him. That's how the expression came about. So, you might say, you are the spittin' image of God. And then we have to ask, well, why? Obviously, as we look around the room, we hope that God doesn't look like us. So, we're not talking physical.

[00:22:03] We're talking about personality and character, about who we are becoming. And so, God had this idea that he was going to make us the ambassadors, the representatives of God on planet Earth. So, king man, king woman on planet Earth, that we would be his ambassadors' representatives

[00:22:29] in how we lead and conduct the affairs of the world, which includes the animals, everything on the planet. Great idea. Now, how is God going to do that? He's going to keep us in relationship with him. Somehow, we are going to be in relationship with him so that we reflect the nature of God to the world.

[00:22:57] And you might call that friendship. And by the way, just because we say friendship, friendship, that doesn't mean, that doesn't equate who we are in terms of character or nature. He's God and we're not, but we can be friends. Just like you can be friends with someone who has a lot more money, someone who has a lot more brains, a lot more beauty. That's not what we're talking about.

[00:23:27] We're talking about some kind of intimacy and exchange of life and ideas and so forth. Then the verse I want to get to is in the very next chapter, chapter 3, verse 8. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. I'm laughing to myself because I go to a church now.

[00:23:56] Now that I've handed the church off to my successor, he likes to say whenever there's a key word that really strikes him, he tells the whole congregation to say, say walking. And they say walking. And that's what I'm hearing in my mind. But I'm not going to do that to you. Because I don't like to do that. I feel like a puppet or something. So don't say walking. But that's the profound word.

[00:24:26] God, and I'm going to key off of that as we go into friendship. God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Now I automatically imagine, as I first read this, as a 17-year-old and then an 18-year-old, that it was probably wind. It was probably the wind of the Spirit. And they just use the term walking. And as they hear the wind blowing on the bushes,

[00:24:55] that they always knew that that was God. But that's not what the passage says. The passage actually says he's walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And I get the sense that it happened regularly. And that they would be with God, as it were, walking with him. And what I'm going to show you is that becomes a key phrase

[00:25:21] in the Old Testament that spills out in the New Testament that points to relationship. Walking together points to relationship. And it would happen regularly in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees. And we know why. Why? So God walks with them in the cool of the day.

[00:25:48] And that was apparently the Imago Dei plan. Okay, he's going to regularly meet with us. And we are going to reflect God to creation. Well, we know it was a broken play. But let's now jump off with this word walk because it appears real quickly again in Genesis chapter 5. You guys are still with me, right? Okay, just checking.

[00:26:16] Genesis 5, 22. Enoch walked with God. I almost did it again. Enoch walked with God. And he was not, for God took him. Twice in that chapter, he walked with God. So what's going on? I saw that. Chapter 3. Now I'm seeing two chapters later. Next chapter, Noah walked with God. So what are we talking about here?

[00:26:47] What does it mean? It becomes what you and I, as Bible teachers, would call a Hebraism, an expression of something. When two people walk together, two things happen. They're headed in the same direction, the same purpose. And you see that in the image of God. We're here to represent God.

[00:27:15] And you and I would say we walk with God for the purpose of bringing salvation, His image to the world, His character to the world. We walk with Him. But it also has this interpersonal dynamic where we actually are walking together. We're in step with each other. We're sharing life with each other. And that blows my mind. And that leads me to the New Testament.

[00:27:45] When you think of this Hebraism, there's two places in the New Testament where walk is used again. You may know of a third or fourth, but here's two. Romans 8.5, for those who do not walk according to the flesh, but implied walk according to the Spirit. Doesn't use another term. And why would they use walk?

[00:28:15] Because now we're talking about the Holy Spirit that we can't see, we can't touch, you can't feel, maybe not all the time. And it's such a graphic term, walking. But clearly, look at Galatians 5.16. And I say then, here is a command. This is in the imperative mood. It's not up for grabs.

[00:28:42] Sometimes we are supposed to walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And usually, we interpreters will say, it means live your life and go about your business, living in the Spirit. But I've brought this back all the way to the book of Genesis. This is a Hebraism where I am walking in the same direction,

[00:29:09] and I'm walking with God like Noah, just like Enoch, just like Adam and Eve. I now walk. And so, bear with me. I won't do this anymore. But in the imperative mood, this can be interpreted in, with, or by. And we can do that with walking in the Spirit.

[00:29:37] So, oftentimes, walking in the Spirit, I have the idea of, I'm like a scuba diver that's walking underwater. I'm walking in the midst of the Spirit. He's all around me. So, we can think of the Spirit that way. Or I can think of it as power, empowerment. I'm walking by the power of the Holy Spirit. Or, and this is the one that works for me,

[00:30:06] and I think it's in line with the Hebraism of the Old Testament. I am walking with the Spirit. Just like Adam and Eve. Just like Noah. Just like Enoch. And that implies friendship to me. That I am a friend of God. I'm spending time with Him. I'm walking in alignment with Him. In step with Him.

[00:30:36] And so forth. So, I have a group that I lead. It's called Honest Doubters, Humble Believers. By the way, when you guys get as old as a dinosaur, I chose to stay on staff. Because I felt like the Western model was, you're the CEO and now you've got to leave. Because there's going to be a clash of leadership. And we don't want that. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, well, there's another way

[00:31:03] that the previous pastor can humble himself and not give unwanted advice. Just like you wouldn't to your son and daughter-in-law. And just be there as grandpa. And do all the things you've always wanted to do. But you never could do. Because you drove in the lane of the lead pastor. And so, I started these things. And I'm having fun. One of the things I started was

[00:31:33] Honest Doubters, Humble Believers. And I recruited 12 disciples. Three atheists. The rest were believers. All intellectuals. And I said, you guys want to hang out together? And they said, yeah. Three of them, they came to church because their wives made them.

[00:32:00] But they didn't believe a lick of what I said because they're PhD professors at different universities. And I said, this is my request. If you're an unbeliever, I'm going to call you a doubter. And I'm asking you to doubt honestly. Like if you doubt the scriptures, you doubt the trinity. Don't do that so you can go sin. But just be honest.

[00:32:29] I just can't think of it. And then I said, if you're a believer, I want to teach you something. I'm going to teach you not to pounce on people. Because Christians are really good at pouncing. Pastors model that to you. And then we teach our people how to pounce. Someone expresses a doubt. And then we get our Bible. And we pounce on them. And we hold them down.

[00:32:57] Don't you know that the Bible says this? I said, don't do that. Instead, be curious and keep the conversation going. So after a year, all three doubters became... I mean, they were just full atheists. They became Christians. We were able to talk about it. But the bigger thing is the believers stopped pouncing. And they started saying, tell me more. Why do you doubt that?

[00:33:27] That's curious to me. And they learned to keep the conversation going. And it was in this friendship, teaching them to be friends with God and to be friends with each other. So one of the prime... The premier doubter. He's a PhD geneticist at a major university. And we met over in Lebanon.

[00:33:55] It was right before Hamas attacked. We had no idea that the very next day they were going to attack. And of course, Hezbollah followed. So we're in Tyre and Sidon that day. If you know Lebanon, that's the Hezbollah territory. And you see their flags flying everywhere. But I'm Mr. Magoo. I have no idea what's going on. And my whole congregation knows me as Mr. Magoo. Those of you that are young don't even know who he is.

[00:34:26] And one of the doubters, who was to become a doubter, comes up to me. He says, hey, Mark, you got a minute? As we're walking back to the bus. And he says, you know, I just want to be honest with you. My wife loves your sermons. I come, I find them, he called them, I find your talks interesting. And I want to be honest with you. I don't believe a lick of this. I am an atheist, a strong believer in evolution.

[00:34:54] I'm just, I think it's just all by chance. But if you want to make me your project over the next two weeks, have at it. And so I said to him, I said, my project, I don't treat people like that. How about if you be my friend? And he said, oh, okay.

[00:35:20] And then he felt awkward that he had introduced himself this way as an atheist. And so he went ahead for the next 10 minutes of giving me his evangelistic spiel for atheism. And when he was done, we got to the bus and he says, so what do you think? And I said, well, it sounds like you have some very strong beliefs. He said, beliefs? That's your business. I'm giving you science.

[00:35:50] And I said, did you not hear yourself? That was science. I told him that was science and that was science. And the rest is filled with a belief system. It just doesn't happen to be. I understand those scientific points, but that doesn't happen to be my belief system. And so we became friends. And I would tell you of all three, the reason they became Christians was not because of any

[00:36:20] of my apologetic answers for any of their things. We had them all. We still have them. We still meet once a month. But it was through friendship, just hanging out. And so this guy I'm telling you about, I finally got to him. I said, you know what? We've been talking about God for nine months.

[00:36:44] I want to challenge you to start talking to him like your divine friend, like he cares about you. And I said, you know, if he doesn't exist, you have nothing to lose. But if he does exist, voila! So he's an avid surfer. He's out surfing. I don't remember where his break is.

[00:37:09] I think it might be at Cardiff, at Suckouts. And so he was surfing there. And because he surfs a lot, he's had his ears drilled three times because the cold water causes your ears to close up. And so he wears these earplugs that are very expensive. And he says, I guess I should try.

[00:37:39] Oh, so he lost his earplugs while duck diving out in the surf. And he decides, I should try what Mark told me. So he prays to Jesus to find his earplugs. And of course, I'm hearing this and I'm thinking, why not pray to raise the dead? Why not just start with the most difficult miracle in the world? How big is the ocean?

[00:38:10] So when he finished surfing, he's walking along the shore and he sees something glimmering out of the corner of his eye and there on a piece of seaweed are not one, but both of his earplugs. And he says to me, so Mark, my question is, do you think that could be an answer to prayer? I said, well, I only took three years of statistics.

[00:38:40] That wasn't for what I do now. But I said, there is no statistical odd that that is ever going to happen. Yeah, I think it could be an answer to prayer. So he's a Christian now. So, but we've all gone through what I'm talking about where we, you came to faith at some point. Some point you decided it wasn't an accident. There's a designer.

[00:39:11] And you decided it wasn't just pantheism, the gang of gods that made everything through war and sex, that there was one God. And then you just had to decide who this one God was. Is he just an angry God? Is he just always judgmental? Is he persnickety? Do you have to walk on eggshells around him? What is this God like? And that's the journey of Christian.

[00:39:36] That's the journey of Christianity is us walking in step with the spirit and discovering the nature of, yes, he's God, but he's also our friend. And what is his personality? What is he like? And we get to discover that. Now I need to move quickly. I just saw the time.

[00:40:04] So Abraham is actually called the friend of God three times, twice in the Old Testament, once in the New Testament. 2 Chronicles 27, it ends by saying, the descendants or the seed of Abraham, your friend forever. Isaiah 41, 8. The descendants or seed of Abraham, my friend.

[00:40:31] And then this is carried over by James, the half-brother of Jesus. He was called the friend of God. What's fascinating about the word friend is it is not just casual acquaintance. It's not just someone that we know or a neighbor or even a companion. It has implicit in the word love.

[00:40:59] It's a loving friendship. It's a loyal friendship. It's not the word chesed, which many of us know. This is a hobby. But it still has this idea of an active covenant friendship. And that's who Abraham was to God. Now, you and I, as interpreters, can say, was that just a one-off? Has nothing to do with us?

[00:41:24] Or is that an example that is going to become all of our stories in the new covenant? Which I would argue for. And so, Abraham, he had a mission. He had a direction, just like you and I, with the gospel going into all the world. His mission was Canaan, and he has this great journey traveling the whole length of Iraq

[00:41:50] all the way up to southern Turkey and then all the way down to what we now call Israel, what was called Canaan. That was the direction, but the side aspect of walking in step was this loyal love that they had with each other. C.S. Lewis, in his book on the four loves, he talks about friendship.

[00:42:18] And he says, everyone who's had a close friend has had the moment where you're walking along and you're talking about something and you have this, what he calls, the you too experience. What? You too? Oh my gosh! And that's often the birth of the friendship. And that's what Abraham, in a sense, had with God.

[00:42:48] He was God's friend so profoundly that there was that moment where he was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And he says, the Lord says to the other two angels, shall we tell Abraham what we're about to do? And implicit in the answer is yes, because he's the friend of God. We can't just do this and not tell him. Now let's jump on to Moses.

[00:43:18] Moses spoke face to face with God as a man speaks to his friend. Exodus 33, 11. So he's carrying on the mission of Abraham. Both covenant, but also this idea of being God's friend.

[00:43:42] Now there's a moment in Moses' life where everyone doesn't know, can God forgive? You know the moment where the golden calf has been worshipped. Moses comes down, furious, breaks the Ten Commandments and grinds up the gold. Reminds me of something my dad would have done, you know. Yikes. And makes him drink it.

[00:44:11] And then finally he goes back up the mountain. And the question is, can God forgive this? And nobody knows. And you, the first time I'm reading this at 18, I'm just like gripped. Like, I don't know. This is bad. God saved them from Egypt, the blood of the lamb. They come out. He's giving them the law. And now they have this orgy, worshipping a false. I don't know. That's pretty bad. That's way, way up there.

[00:44:42] God says, Moses, I just can't go with you. In fact, I think the best thing I'm going to do is wipe out all the people. And I'm going to make you my seed. And Moses says, this is not going to look good in the Jerusalem Post. God kills people. And you realize that there's this Middle Eastern bartering going on.

[00:45:11] And God's using a cultural bartering thing to lead Moses to the truth of who he is. And so Moses barters. And God says, okay. But I won't go with you. My angel's going to go. Wow. And so Moses prays some more. And God says, finally, all right. I'll go with you. What is that about God?

[00:45:41] Moses is hooked on it. Like this is something glorious about you. That you, being holy, can now decide to go with unholy people. Who are you? And he says, I want to see your glory. You know the moment. So we get to this key moment. And this may be the best part of anything I tell you. The question is, can God forgive?

[00:46:11] That point in the story of the Bible, the only time forgiveness is, the word has been used, is when the 11 brothers are forgiven by Joseph. The only time. We have never heard the word used of God. And then the glory of God passes by.

[00:46:38] And Moses hears the glory of God. And don't you think if he saw the rear end of God's glory, he would have written that? I know I didn't see the front end, but the rear end of God was glorious. He doesn't tell us anything about what he saw because what he heard was so much more profound. Yahweh, Yahweh. The compassionate. The gracious.

[00:47:07] Slow to anger. Abounding with love. Maintaining that love, not just for you, but for thousands. And the first time the word is ever used. Forgiving. And not just the piddly sins. Wickedness. Treason. And sin. And if you don't want that, there's justice available for you to the third and fourth generation.

[00:47:38] God forgives. But just think of those characteristics. Who do you like to be with that is your close friend? Are they compassionate? Compassionate. When they find out something of your weakness, do they say, bleh, I don't like you? Or are they compassionate, empathetic, understanding? I hang out with the understanding people. If I show up for a meal and the guy says, you know, you're two minutes late.

[00:48:07] I just say, well, this is the only meal we're going to have. Because as a friend, I don't hang out with people like that. Compassionate. Gracious. Not right angled. Not persnickety. Gracious. And slow to anger. It means it takes a long time for your nose to get red. Loving and maintaining that love for thousands. And forgiving.

[00:48:37] That's who your friend is. And the reason we like that is because we are made in his image to be like that. And so, as you know, Moses comes down. His glory is changed. His face is changed. And he's shining. And all of his friends are saying, what's going on? And he covers his face.

[00:49:05] And that becomes a verse that Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 3.18. But we all with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. So, as we're walking with God, as we're having this friendship with Jesus, it's not just the direction. And it's not just the enjoyment of the relationship.

[00:49:34] But actually, we are being made like him. Which was the plan in the beginning for us to be the image of God. But finally, Jesus makes us his friends. John 15.13. Greater love has no one than this. Then he laid down one's life for his friends.

[00:50:03] You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants. For a servant does not know what his master is doing. We know. But I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. Jesus calls us friends. It's not blasphemy. We know he's holy.

[00:50:32] We know he's almighty. But we uniquely are also his friend. It's one of the beauties of our faith. To be the friend of God. And that's how we maintain our sanctification. Because we're walking in step with the spirit.

[00:50:58] But also how we maintain our missional direction of going into all the world. Because that's what Jesus is up to. And we want to walk with him. And you know if you look back to the gospel. Now that you know this. Doesn't Jesus have a unique friendship relationship with many of the disciples? Like think of it. Mary Magdalene obviously had a unique relationship with Jesus.

[00:51:26] The fact that Jesus would appear to her in the garden. And she would know it's Jesus just by how he pronounced her name. Mary. There was a friendship there. Or Jesus talking to the other Mary. The sister of Lazarus. For this long period of time when Martha gets upset. Because she's doing all the dishes. And Mary's talking to Jesus. Or Lazarus.

[00:51:55] The fact that Jesus would actually cry at Lazarus' grave. Before. It wasn't crying just because the world was sinful. As I often hear. He was also Lazarus' friend. Because that's how they came to him. They said Jesus. Lazarus your friend. Is sick. How about Thomas?

[00:52:25] There's a friendship. Shows up. Hello Thomas. Hey Tom. And Tom says. My Lord. And my God. Teresa of Avila in Spain in the 1400s. She wrote. Prayer is nothing else. Than an intimate sharing. Between friends. Your friend just happens to be.

[00:52:54] G-g-g-g-god. Wow. You know the relationship that C.S. Lewis had with. Tolkien. J.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings. Author. And behind the movie. They became friends. Before. Lewis was a Christian. Most of you know the story. But.

[00:53:25] Lewis is moving closer. And closer. And finally. He actually. Decides. To become a theist. That much. I believe in a God. But. I still don't believe in the Christian God. And. And they're. Walking. Walking. On Addison's walk. Which is right outside. Magdalene college. Where. Lewis taught. And. They have this conversation.

[00:53:55] Just like friends. They're walking. In the same direction. Keeping the same pace. And. Lewis says. You know. There's a lot of gods. Deities. That rise. And come back to life. And this. And Tolkien says. And Lewis says. You know. They're all myths. And. Tolkien says. But this is the one. That came true. And that just.

[00:54:26] Was like an arrow. Through Lewis's heart. But it was through that. Friendship. That Tolkien. Is reaching into the world. And then there's another story. That we have of. Peter. Being restored. To Jesus. After he denies the Lord. Three times. If you. Any of you. Raise your hand. If this has happened. Had a. True blue friend. That denied. That he was your friend. Three times.

[00:54:57] And you're still his friend. I know you've forgiven him. But you don't trust him. Right? And the third time he did it. With cussing. I don't have friends like that. So. Jesus shows up. You know the story. He's fixing a meal. Of fish on the shore. Try the other side. You know. Anybody who's a fisherman. Loves to laugh at that story.

[00:55:27] And. Peter swims to shore. After they eat. It seems. Like they get up. Probably just eye contact. His friends. And they go for a walk. And we know the conversation. Because John follows behind. John. Wants to hear what. And listen to what a friend does. Does Jesus say. To Peter.

[00:55:55] And does Jesus say to you. You know. You really tick me off. It's the way my mother used to do it. Wiggle her head. And cross her arms. And tap her foot. But. Does he get loud. And start yelling. Does he. Turn his back. Say. I'm not talking to you. For three decades. Because you denied me three times.

[00:56:25] All the things. That we've. What does class act. Jesus do. As the friend. Peter. Peter. You love me. Lord you know I love you. Right on. I think that's somewhere in the Greek. Right on. Feed my sheep.

[00:56:56] Peter. You love me. Right. That's cool. Take care of my lambs. Peter. You love me. Right. And the text. Interprets itself. Even though I'm a big fan of. Original languages. Peter was not grieved. Because Jesus changed. The Greek verb. He was grieved.

[00:57:26] Because. Of the third time. He got it. What a class act friend. No scoldings. No yelling. No belittling. Just. I know who you are. You love me. Get back on the field. And play. I know you're a good player. Get. That's who you really are. Come on. And he restores him. Without. Any. Shame.

[00:57:55] Shame is a tool of the devil. Not Jesus. Jesus. My friends. Just like we sang about. In the Jesus movement. Is your best friend. Holy. Creator. Omniscient. Omnipotent. Omnipresent. Savior. All of that.

[00:58:24] So that you can be in relationship. Just tell the person next to you. You're the friend of God. They'll give you all the time and space. You need. To get a nap. Father. By your Holy Spirit. Draw us close to you.

[00:58:54] Teach us. How to be your friend. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Listen to a session. From our CGN International Leadership Conference. And we want you to join the next one. We already have dates for next year. June 27th. Through the 30th. 2027. In San Diego. California. Join us as pastors. Ministry leaders. Spouses. And their family. Come to worship. Encourage one another. And build genuine friendships.

[00:59:23] You can register. Right now. At conference. conference.calvarychapel.com And the price of registration is only $99 per person. We can't wait to see you there.