Highlight: True Biblical friendship
“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
While Pastor Peter Haas of Substance Church was doing some research on a book about happiness, he came across a surprising fact.
“I found out that research actually shows that our happiness is more related to our friends than it is our circumstances.”
Proverbs 13:22 affirms this finding,
“Walk with the wise you will grow wiser, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.”
Not only does the company we keep greatly affect our happiness, it also affects our success in life.
“We imagine that perfect job or that perfect whatever, fill in the blank, if only I had this in my bank account, or this type of house then I would be happy, but actually your friends have a greater impact on your likelihood of happiness than anything.”
Peter was gripped by this idea and it challenged him to embrace what the Bible says about our relationships.
“A wise person is cautious in relationship Proverbs 12 says. Maybe I’m not being cautious enough about who I’m surrounding myself with and the type of community that I’m embedding myself into?”
That church is less about simply attending a service and more about providing an opportunity to build strong community.
“That is really what Biblical church is. It’s a community of people who will do anything to see us healed and whole.”
Peter points to Luke 5 for an illustration.
“When the paralytic couldn’t get to Jesus at Peter’s house, his friends ripped through a roof, lowered him on a mat, and then Jesus healed him. That was illegal, vandalizing a person’s house by ripping a hole through it. But instead of rebuking them for doing that He was like impressed by their faith.’
The true heroes of the story are the paralytics friends who didn’t let a roof get in between their friend and the healing powers of Jesus.
“Do you have friends who would rip through a roof for you? Do you have friends who are so passionate about helping you experience Jesus that they would even do something illegal? If there was ever a biblical definition of church, it’s right there in Luke.”
Peter Haas is the founding pastors of Substance Church in Minneapolis. Peter serves on the lead team of the Association of Related Churches. His books include and .
Key Scripture: Proverbs 13:22
Featured Songs: Believe – All Things New; No Longer Slaves – Bethel Music; The Lion and the Lamb – Bethel Music
