Guigoz #5
C: Mike none of the people I hang out with are saved and we would go clubbing but since I gave my heart to Jesus we don’t go out together anymore however we are still very close. I haven’t been able to convert them but I feel that I can’t leave them because of how much I love them.
M: First of all, I need to tell you that you are incapable of converting them because that is the work of the Holy Spirit but do you know what you can do? You can share the Gospel with them and most importantly you can pray for them.
C: But Mike you didn’t answer my question. I asked you if I need to leave them or not.
M: Well, first of all you need to learn what the Bible says about bad company. In I Corinthians 15:33 it is written that evil company corrupts good character. So it’s very important to select your friends wisely and to avoid bad company for fear of being corrupted. Also please open your Bible and read Psalms 1:1-2.
C: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night”
M: As you can see, what isn’t good is listed here: walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the company of mockers. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have friends who aren’t believers, however, you need to be alert that you aren’t walking in their counsel, their behavior, their actions but rather that they are seeing the glory of God in you. If you find that their company is pulling you away from the Word of God or that they are pressuring you do things that don’t please the Lord then you need to cut off the relationship. Matthew 5:29 tells us that if your right eye is leading you into sin then you should gouge it out and throw it away, because it is better for you to loose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
C: I am know a young man who is 17 years old. He recently got saved but has a serious problem with his problem with his father who is extremely hostile to the Gospel. The father doesn’t want to see the young man with his bible, nor can he stand hearing the young man pray; it’s almost as if he has lost a son because to the father the son is dead. This young man shared with me recently in his desperation and I didn’t know how to help him. What advice can I share with him?
M: Tell him that Jesus says in Matthew 10:34-36 that he didn’t come to bring peace to the earth but a sword. And that a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. You can also encourage him by showing him the passage in 1 Peter 2:19 that it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. Encourage him above all to persevere, to pray for his father, not to hate him, and to overcome evil with good according to Romans 12:21.
