How a Real Friendship Happens

1 Samuel 17:55 – 18:5

In the Christian life – there are no .

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor; for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up!  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Biblical friendships do not come by – they are built with .

A person of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24

The Man After God’s Heart

David had some great that came from .

We know about David’s family background.

It seems as though David was by his father and by his brothers.

When Samuel asked Jesse to gather his sons, David was considered so that he was not even .

Can you imagine how that would affect David’s of and ?

Now Eliab his oldest brother heard him when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why is it that you have come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I myself know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”  But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?”  1 Samuel 17:28-29

David knew the feeling of an unknown – of an unknown .

The Lord Looks At The Heart

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up.  Psalm 27:10

In the of rejection, David had learned the sufficiency of , in the solitude of the wilderness, he had come to know the .

The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not be in need.  Psalm 23:1

Two things brought David to the front lines:

1^st The sovereign of God

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  1 Samuel 16:7

The key to God’s choice of David was the condition of his and God’s empowering.

and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. 1 Samuel 16:13b NASB 1995

2^nd David was as court musician.

Then one of the young men responded and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a valiant mighty man, a warrior, skillful in speech, and a handsome man; and the Lord is with him.”  1 Samuel 16:18

Then came !

David was , but he had large .

and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will hand you over to us!”  1 Samuel 17:47

There is a direct link between the ability to stand by faith in God, and the ability to enter into relationships.

Building A Friendship

Five principles or stages for building friendships!

1. The attitude of

It is not so much what we do as it is an we possess.

The world and spiritual believers approach people in entirely ways.

 I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  John 13:34

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, for the glory of God. Romans 15:7

1. Mutual

Now it came about, when he had finished speaking to Saul, that Jonathan committed himself to David, and Jonathan loved him as himself. 1 Samuel 18:1

Notice the word – Jonathan first found himself bound to David – not .

Knit = means – knit together things that are of the same .

I am a companion to all those who fear You, And to those who keep Your precepts.  Psalm 119:63