Enduring Friendships

Everybody needs true friendship. There is a real hunger for it. The problem is finding the time to create real friends. It takes time and effort to make friends. Many of us settle for the imitation friends we have on the TV.

ILL>>>I remember my dad used to talk to “Hunter” when that was a weekly TV series. When the main character was in trouble he would say,

“Watch out Hunter” or “Get him Hunter!”.

Ever find yourself enjoying the company of an TV friend over a real person? Be honest, of course you have. TV friends never let you down, they never hurt your feelings, they are perfect!

Some of the all time most popular shows are “Friends” where a group of young good looking young people spend most of their time sitting around just talking. They never seem to have to work.

Or, how about “Cheers” , where everybody knows your name. Seinfield, everything is funny and fun to this group of close friends. Or maybe you prefer the old ones, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhardt, they always seem to have friends dropping by just to talk like Daryl and his other brother Daryl.

The westerns, like “Gunsmoke” and others always meet their friends and get in trouble where? The saloon!

If your like me you have spend many a happy hour enjoying the company of these Hollywood friends. The problem is these friends can never be real friends. And because we get so used to these artificial friends it can be hard to have a real friend.

But there is a hole in our heart when we don’t have friends. Some people prefer to be alone all the time but that’s because their self centered. The Lord created us to have real friendships! Is it hard for you to have a friend?

It has been said that if you have one true friend in your life you are lucky. This morning the Lord is going to teach us about FRIENDSHIP and HOW WE CAN HAVE SOME TRUE FRIENDS!

The best example of a friend is Jesus, we can learn about friendship from Him.

John 15:15 NKJV

15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

-- read verse 15 only --- pray and sit down Jesus is ...

-- read verse 15 only --- pray and sit down Jesus is ...

1. Jesus is the perfect example of friendship.

A. A real friend opens up his life and activities v15 Even though He is God - He reveals his heart to His friends

B. A real friend shares his thoughts and feeling v 15 from the Father =WOG

ILL>> Meditation is Medication // Charles Allen “God’s Psychiarty”.

If all church members ever decided to read their Bibles at the same time, we would experience the worse dust storm in history.

C. A real friend respects your wishes / God’s are loving requirements for our benefit! v14

D. A real friend makes sacrifices for each other v13

ILL>>>God’s love is unconditional. He loves us for who we are and not for what we are. A television executive called the pastor of a metropolitan church and told the pastor that he thought his son was in his city involved in the drug culture. He asked the preacher if he would try to find the boy and do something with him. About four months later the boy was found and told the Gospel. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The preacher told the boy to pick up the extension and he would call his father. The preacher told the father that his son had been found and that he had accepted Jesus. The father replied, "I don’t care about that, I want to know how long his hair is, has he taken a bath, will he apologize to his old lady?" The boy ran out of the study and his father never saw him again. This father’s love was conditional: if you meet these requirements I’ll love you. But fortunately for us God’s love is unconditional. He loves us in spite of our sins. -John Bisagno

E. A real friend encourages growth in the other person. v16--

F. A real friend is a genuine help v26

G A real friend wont leave you alone and lonely. v26

Jesus is A fantastic Friend , the perfect example. In v 14&15

He requires us to obey. In order for us to be a good friend to the Lord and to others we must be ...

2. A Fruitful Friend v1-11

A. False friends are removed v 2,6 - non-believing, non-fruit producing, non-Christians

Those who make a profession but never yield fruit / fake Christians

B. Fruitful friends are improved -- for the purpose of bearing more fruit (pruned)

C. Fruitful friends bear fruit --1. fruit = new believers --2. fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace

ILL>>>Everyone in the church can be a friend to someone new.----, depending on their personality. There is a riding academy in West Texas that advertises that they have a horse to suit every taste. For fat people, they have fat horses; for skinny people, they have skinny horses. For fast people, they have fast horses; for slow people, they have slow ones. And for people who don’t know how to ride at all, they have horses that have never been ridden before! Whatever your taste, when it comes to doing the Lord’s work, and loving people -- there is a horse you can ride.

D. Fruitful friends are cleaned by God’s word //

Psalm 119:9 NKJV

9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 119:11 NKJV

11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

3. Fruitful friends abide v8

E. Fruitful friends abide // live // stay // == evidence of salvation v8

1. Benefits of abiding in christ = bearing MUCH fruit v5 >> glorifies God v8

2. Benefits of abiding = Answered prayer v7

3. Benefits of abiding = a full JOY v11

3. How do we abide? keep His commandments ! v9

What one commandment was He referring to specifically? ... v12

III. A Fellowship of Friends v 12-17

1. bearing fruit requires LOVE!

a. bearing fruit is reaching and teaching the lost

b. bearing fruit - bringing people to SS teaching others to do so

c. bearing fruit - reaching out to the lost with your testimony of salvation, your witness

v16 fruit that will last - a strong friendship<<<<<<<<<<

2. obedience requires love & love requires obedience v12&14

B. Friendship is proven by sacrifice v13

remember - LOVE ONE ANOTHER V17 DO we have genuine love?

ILL>>>A shabbily dressed boy trudged several miles through the snowy streets of Chicago, ....determined to attend a Bible class that was conducted by D. L. Moody (where today the famous Moody Bible Institute stands and The Moody Church) --When he arrived, he was asked, "Why did you come to a Sunday school so far away? Why didn’t you go to one of the churches near your home?" He answered simply, "Because you love a fellow over here." Like that lad, people all around us are still looking for love. They are longing to be warmly accepted by someone who really cares.

4. Choose who you keep close carefully

story of Ed

Psalm 55:12–17 NKJV

12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. 13 But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. 14 We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. 15 Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. 16 As for me, I will call upon God, And the Lord shall save me. 17 Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.

Proverbs 12:26 NKJV

26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 NKJV

9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.

Choose who you keep close carefully

Live to Love

Be a friend like Jesus