A Friend of God - Dale Rintleman

Can you hear me over this? Do I need to raise it up a little bit?

Okay, I didn't break it. That's good.

I I love coming, here is always a wonderful experience to come here. And I'm always impressed by the worship and when I say I'm impressed by the worship, the worship itself. Is it something that we extended God, but what happens when we worship is that we can hear from God and so got him presses me with things as I experienced worship here. I'm so thank you for

Inviting me into that. And I'm not sure. As usual. Sometimes, the spirit of God gives me other things to share. So we'll see where this morning goes. As I was worshipping, the Lord brought to mind. A recent experience that I had. In the MRI tunnel, so then, if you've ever had an MRI, and my eyes are very loud, I've never experienced, one sold for the lady, who was walking me through. It was telling me it's going to be very very loud. Now. We have headphones. So your headphones you can have then just tell me what what volume you want on these headphones, but I don't like loud things in my ear. So she said what kind of music you want? I said, whoa classical. And then, she explained to me that. Okay. Well, let's test the volume and immediately, I got classical rock in my ears and I I didn't realize that it was whoever was listening before. I said, that's not the classical that I want you to know. I'm not there yet, but just tell me what the volume is. So I should turn down. Turn down, turn. She goes, it's going to be really loud in the tunnel in the end. I said, world turn down, turn down, and I got in the tunnel, and I did give classical music. And the classical music was soft. And I was glad it was soft. Now. The MRI was very, very loud. But if I would have tried to make it so loud to not hear the MRI. It would have just driven me crazy. That one was in the MRI and I have a group that we meet monthly or weekly that's called chapter a month club. So we memorize scripture. I'm consoling memorizing, scripture, browse when I got in the samurai tunnel and I am going like, okay, let me practice scripture and I couldn't remember anything and I got something I remember. So I went to the third song. And down. The Lord is my shepherd and not in some kind of pieces together cuz it's been awhile. Since I can. I quoted it just verbatim. Where is my shepherd? I shall not want he makes me to lie down in Green Pastures. He leads me beside Still Waters. He restores my soul. And and so then I got it that part together and I said it again and again, he leads me in Paths of righteousness for his namesake. Okay, yea though, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod, and thy staff. They comfort me. And then thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The imagery really hit me that it's not necessarily that your enemy is chastised. It's that your enemy gets to see you in a place of deep communion with your guide, in a place of favor with your God. And that's kind of what I want to talk to you about this morning. As we look into John chapter, 15 copies of the PowerPoint that you're going to see this morning up here in front. In case you're interested.

And I thought, Wednesday, David was talking about you're going through Revelation, isn't it? Interesting that? The spirit of God is talking the seven churches and the last church, the church of laodicea. The one that just says, I want to spit you out of my mouth. You're not hot. You're not cold. And he shows this wonderful invitation, but behold I stand at the door. Knock. If anyone hear my voice. And open the door, I will come into him and sup with him. And he with me what a marvelous picture what the Lord wants to do with us. He wants us to be a favorable relationship with him. It is where We have Vitality. That's where we kind of work. Is human beings in a place where we have communion with our God. Yeah, so those things I had not planned to share this morning. The one store I wanted to share is a story that comes back and I I'm haunted many times the Holy Spirit brings up things from my past, where I've heard people are miss something not to condemn me, but to just bring out it just how much Mercy he has for me and how he wants me to extend Mercy, to others in ways that I didn't really see before. This is 1986. I just graduated from college and I'd already had one telemarketing job. I was selling long-distance service. There was a day when AT&T dominated all long-distance and then it got broken up and then they were companies like MCI and Sprints and you could call people and have them convert, you know, that has ladders were opening up. And so I was part of that if you were alive during that time, I might have called you on the phone.

Anyways, and I took a job in a direct mailing company. and I've been there several months in the and the company was kind of struggling. I was in sales. And the boss took the the owner of the company took me to the side. He said well, I just want you to know that I that finances are really, really difficult right now, and I don't know that I can pay my employees.

And and so course. The first thing I went to was you mean the work that I've been doing for the last week. You might not pay me for. And he said, yes. And I don't know that I showed any emotion in the moment, but I quit the next day.

I'm at work. I'm going to work and I can paid. And you're telling me that then why should I be here? If you were kind of have that attitude? Unfortunately, I had that attitude never in a million years did I think that he was actually befriending me. And he was disclosing something that was deep and important to him, and he wanted me to be in his confidence. This morning as we talked about friendship and that God brings us into his friendship to talk about this closure. And what that means.

All over the state and Bay, dr. Richard godbeer of VCU, and what he study was a male friendships and he took the colonial friendships from letters and he compared them to our contemporary relationships of men to men. And what he's found was that today we have just as extremely diluted understanding of what friendship is at least pacifically in that case of male to male. We really don't understand friendship today. This is what the Portland says. If we allow the world around us in our present cultural moment to dictate to us the significance of friendship. We not only lose out on a reality, vital to human flourishing at the horizontal level, but we lose out even worse and enjoying the Friendship of Christ. On a vertical level. Gala culture doesn't really know what to do with friendship. Who are your friends? You know, what are your friend circles? Jesus? Did this in a really powerful way. He had a close 3 and he had close friends yet. How is it that he stayed at? I'm in Capernaum and other places and then he had 12 and then he has a 70 in the 72 and more. In fact, at the upper room at Pentecost or 120. Probably people that he hadn't closed relationship.

Thrillist this morning at John 15, and we're looking friendship. And I hope that this will really help you look differently at who your friends, are how you befriend, others. As we look at what God has done with us. This is John 15 verses 12 through 15. This is my commandment that you love one. Another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this. Then someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends. If you do what I command you, by the way, we have a lot of misunderstandings in scripture. This word. Command is also one we misunderstand. What do you think? I'm going to command? What are you thinking of somebody? Is it Superior to me and they're giving me something that I have to do. So, I'm either going to succeed. I'm going to fail at it. That's the way we think about command and that's the way the Israelites looked at Commandments in the Old Testament. But when God talks about a command he's talking about something that he not only has said but the part of his character and he empowers us to be able to do it, it flows from him and it flows from him through us. So that is not necessarily something. We will fail at it. Something that if we have him with us, we will not fail at

You are my friends. If you do what I command you, no longer do I call you servants. For the servant, does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all that. I've heard from my father. I have made known to you. Do I have a couple friend truce here? If we look at this scripture, number one, love is to be passed on. In other words, as I have loved you. Jesus says, I want you to love. And the greatest love is that I have given my life for you. I want you to give your life for others. And part of that is a binding and that a binding is obedient and we find this in the beginning of John. Jesus says, I am the vine. You are the branches, if you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. And friendship is the results. Friendship is something we're full disclosure is part of your relationship. Now.

I got to tell you. This convinced me because even in my relationship with my wife, there are some things I worry about. Disclosing, you ever have that? Or am I the only one?

And why are we afraid to disclose it? Because maybe it's a little bit changing and we can get in trouble for it. Maybe it might be misunderstood. Maybe might be turned on us. Have you ever said something to a friend and had to turn back on you? And you kind of said, well, I guess they're not our friends on the right. Talk to them again. Yeah, because these are the ways that we treat friendship. It's not the way that God treats friendship with us. God says, I want to disclose everything about me. To you. But in some ways like our experience of friendship, God can only explode so much. That it will be healthy for you. That's why you have to be abiding in him. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. And you were slaves before, by the way, when you aren't in abiding relationship with Jesus. And with the father, you're in slavery, no matter how smart, you think you are.

There is something very unfreedom like about living outside of the God who created your soul and created you to flourish.

With me, you're no longer slaves, and I have called you now.

now, this is extremely hard to talk about because God is Holy. And God is righteous. And we are kind of like.

Can a cancerous creatures that need his righteousness to take us to a different place? But God says here I have called you friends and I'm going to disclose Jesus says the father will disclose through me everything. That's deep. All things are just close to you. Well, couple things I just want to highlight here before we kind of and looking at this passage number one loves greatest expression, results and friendship. Which opens full disclosure?

If I think about this, and I think about it in terms of how Jesus did it, Jesus had a close 3. And that he had a close 12 and then he had to close other groups and then he had to close 70. If we are working in the same way to Jesus work. We need to have these deep relationships where we can trust others and we hold those confidences very tightly. Very, very tightly. I, I can't tell you how many situations I have. And people are talking and they think the pastor knows everything. So that was what I know. What does the pastor know until they bring up a people? Are they bring up situations and off and I'm like, what is you here? Because you know what? I honestly just because I know it doesn't mean that it should be disclosed because it has to be in a place. That's that's safe. And that is fruitful and to some people, there are certain things that will not be fruitful for them. It won't be healthy for them. This is the way that God actually treats us abide in me and then I can disclose more to you because it'll make your soul healthy and you'll be able to handle and you'll be able to multiply with it and share it.

But sometimes we have to be careful how we do that, but we can never do that without abiding in Jesus Christ. God only reveals to us, what is healthy for our being? This is just absolutely true. In terms of the Corinthians, for instance. He talks about, will your carnal. So I got to give you milk while part of that is the abiding. You get milk because it's all that you can handle all this healthy for you. You'll get meat when you're biting deeper because it will be healthy for you then. Yes, you was always fruitfulness. I probably shouldn't disclose this because if this is on the Airways, my kids might find out about it, but I had one of my children give me this plant that you can't kill.

And of course, you know, I have water bottles. So I can, I pour water in a plant, which I have some plants in my office. But this one, you have to have a spray bottle. So I got to go spray bottle from, you know, this is like something else and I got to have it in my office will before I could even go through. Yeah. I think I'll be driving home. And before I could even think about getting a spray bottle.

So then I looked online. How can I buy another one? Can I find? No, I couldn't find another one but I did find that I could get the plant and put it in the little, you know, the kind of container that she had, it was like a little tree trunk. So I bought it.

But when you saw me this summer, I was pretty debilitated. I travel to California. Will, once you know, there were four weeks when the same didn't get watered and it died died for about 2 months. Now. I've been like every other day. It just was not coming back to life. 1, some ways. This is kind of what I buy things about. Abiding means that we have to be constantly connected to our God who created our soul, who, who is rebirth Us by his spirit. And we have to be connected to the rebirth Spirit, if we aren't connected to the rebirth, Spirit than pretty much were operating outside of our strength. Our water. Our source of nutrition. Our abiding in the fruitful Vine is essential for our own health. And then, lastly, I I love this part and it comes from the next two verses that come. So there are things that we don't understand hear. One of the things that we don't understand, is Hope, or I hope. I hope that I'll get a bicycle for Christmas or I hope that And my mother will. Let me have her car when she's done with it. Something like that. That's not the way. The Bible talks about help. Hope is something absolutely fixed. And you know, it's fixed even though you can't see it. This is Hebrews chapter 11 and it will be given to you. Well, I don't know about what kind of question things you've asked for, but I've asked for things that I didn't get. So we don't understand asking and that's why I like to talk about that here in these verses 16 and 17 of John 15. You did not choose me. But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide. So that whatever you ask the father in my name. He may give it to you, these things. I command you, so that you will love one another.

Jesus is saying, listen. I'm putting you in a place so that whenever you ask, you'll get.

I have a herniated disc right now and I realized, okay, I'm 63 years old. I have a herniated disc. I can't reverse this thing. I've heard myself. I can't reverse it. But I sure could ask God to reverse it. He's the Healer. So, should I ask? Or should I not ask? This is the Dilemma. Bright, what do I ask for when you're praying with somebody? What do you ask for will hear? I can tell you and that is that when you asked in these terms, you are abiding. So there was a disclosure that the holy spirit will give you to help you not ask outside of what the father desires you to ask gets kind of a cycle. In some ways. You're getting a little bit of like spiritual illumination to ask the right thing. So we can ask for miracles and they will happen. If this is the desire, the fire that we look at it. Like, okay, in God's will will listen. If we're buying God's will as we strengthen our spiritual prayer muscles, God's will will, all of a sudden, become a little more visual so that we can start tasting it and pray for the correct things. And by the way, don't be afraid to ask if you just quite don't know. Just understand. This is not about that. God wasn't faithful to your asking. This is about how deeply in my advising. With the Lord. And with the father, now, one last little area that I wanted to go with, I wasn't sure if I was going to get here this morning, but when we talk about friends, I don't know who your friends are. I hope that this morning, as you meditate on this that you'll think deeper about, I should have friends. I should have type friends that I can disclose certain things too. I should have another level of friends that are in a little bit looser, but it's, but a kind of a formal with a formal relationship. This is called discipleship. Mentoring and relationships. That's what discipleship is all about in the veracity of the truth of Jesus Christ. Because as we heard this morning, he is the light. And in him, there is no Darkness at all. Matthew 9. Do the Pharisees are looking at this guy called Jesus, and they're, they're really kind of figuring him out and they they don't like what they're seeing. So, they trying to find problems with Jesus. In Matthew chapter 9. We find that Jesus invites Matthew into his group. He says come follow me and Matthew comes and then they have, he has a party and he brings all of his other friends. And of course, his friends are tax collectors and sinners. So they're all in his home in Jesus's their reclining with them because this is what Jesus Does He gravitates to those who need healing.

And those who need healing? Are those who begin? What can be a friendship? When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples. Why did your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? But when he heard it, Jesus said those who are, well, have no need of a physician but those who are sick, go and learn what this means. I desire, mercy, and not sacrifice for. I have come not to call the righteous, but Sinners. Listen, what Jesus is saying? He's saying I'm going to make friends from Sinners because they know that they need a friend. If that Jesus himself, kind of translates this in Matthew chapter 11, he says he says this.

The Pharisee said, I congregate with tax collectors and sinners. I am of a friend to tax collectors and sinners. He actually used the term friend. Another reason that he talks about in this way, is because of his heart. This is a really powerful passage of scripture. I encourage you to memorize these three verses is comes from Matthew 11. This is what Jesus says, come to me. All you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for. I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. This is the only time where Jesus talks about his heart. The only time in scripture where Jesus ever talks about his heart or the heart of his father, the heart that he has in the heart of his father is to bring friends from people who are broken and very needy. People who are burdened and need relief. Can you imagine that Jesus wants to make friends from those who are broken and hurt.

It is his heart when he was reclining with those tax collectors and sinners. He was in his element because his heart is for those who are broken in verdant.

So what do we do with that?

I love how he ends this scripture, and he turns it. So he starts with love one. Another ends it with love one. Another. So everything that he's just disclosed about being a friend, being a slave in the past. About obeying about abiding. All these things. They all come full circle. I want you to love as I have loved loved one. Another. Love one another as sacrificial way. Love one another in a way that cost you for Jesus. It cost his blood. What are you willing to give up? So sacrifice sacrificial life, giving love those two things, just to end this morning. Number one, it brings Joy. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be full and you and that your joy may be full. This is a soul response to being a friend of God. And this is what Jesus says in. Well, what's said in Hebrews chapter 12, Jesus considered a joy.

When he went to the cross. Is he in? Because he considered a joy. He's the author and finisher of our faith. And then, lastly, abreeza living relationship as the Father's. Love me. So, I loved you abide in my love. If you keep my Commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's Commandments and abide in his love for Jesus. The Commandments were like, oh man. Am I going to fail it to the his Commandments? We just simply living out of the heart of his father. No, I think about that. If I think about being in the MRI, and as I think about that conversation with my boss.

There is something to be in a place of communion. A relationship of dining. A being a friend and sitting around a table with God. It is a place of disclosure.

Jesus wants us to have an ear to hear things. He's saying, you need to be in a relationship. That's inviting relationship with the Lord. So and hear what he saying, that would challenge you this morning think differently about your relationships. In the seventies, I talked about. They talk about in terms of discipleship. I talk to you today about it in terms of not slavery, even today, when we have it, when you have an employer. It is a form of slavery. Your employers not going to tell you certain things. God says, I won't want to disclose everything to you. If you just abide deeper and me abide in Christ, think about friendship and think about your face is a friendship Faith. Because your God is a French of God. May the Lord bless you. Thank you so much for letting me share with you this morning.