A Friendship for a Lifetime

No Friend Like the Lord Jesus

I am a friend of God, He calls me friend, that is a very powerful statement to make. One can only make that kind of statement unless he or she knows that they have a very solid and close relationship with the Lord.

Who in your life can you truly say that is your true friend, that will go to the max or should I say the extreme for you, even if it seems crazy or out or this world to do it?

Let’s look at our text for today

Scripture Text: John 15:15-16 Here Jesus is speaking to the Eleven disciples (Judas had already left them Jn 13:30), “You are my friends, if you do what I have asked you todo. I will no longer call you servants, because as servants does not know his master business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father I have made it known unto you.

This scripture come after Jesus just finished talking to his disciples about being connected andabiding in Him (John 15:1-8)Friends must be able to have such a relationship that they can abide together in spirit and in truth.

**Pay close attention that the word I was used 16 times between verse 1 and verse 16** Jesus only want this kind of relationship or friendship to be between Him and you.

We know that Moses and Abraham were called a friend of God, because they was obedient to the voice and plan of God, They both spent and put in the time.

We are all looking for that special connection or friendship or hookup with someone in life. Friendship carries obligations and benefits. (Expound on friends with benefits).

Some people come into our life for a reason and some only for a season, have you ever had some that you wish had not come at all? Judas was chosen as one of the 12 disciples for a reason and, and yes, He was there for a season to accomplish to carry out God’s plan, so that I can become a friend of God. (We will see talk about this plan as we go a long)

Who is in your circle of friends?

Jesus had 12 in His circle, they walked Him daily, and yet Jesus knew that they were not all in for different reasons. Peter denied Him 3 times, Judas betrayed Him, Thomas doubted Him.

Tough Times/Weathering the Storms of a friendship: Proverbs 17:17- A friend always loves, and a brother is born for adversity. Good times and bad time love of a true friend, one who is not afraid to tell you the truth, even when it hurts.

Let’s talk about a very close and Godly friendship from the word of David and Johnathan; This special friendship can be found in I Samuel 20:1-42, but we will focus on verse 1- 3 for the sake of time.

Verse 1 David inquired of his friend Jonathan and asked “What have I done” see here true friends can talk to each other and be real with each other.

1 Samuel 20:3 New International Version (NIV) 3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this, or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”

True friends spend time together, talk to each other about important things, laugh, and even cry together.

We must be very careful who call our friend or friends; some thought Judas was a friend of Christ

· Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

· Friends are to be a blessing to each other according to Proverbs 27:17 Iron Sharpened iron

A friend that will go the distance with you and for you (Christ) The Cross, the Grave, Back to Glory

A real friend will lay down his life for you

· The song writer wrote then and still so true today (What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sin and grief to bear).

· Jesus said a friend of this world is an enemy of God

· A true friend will always love you

· A real friendship carries a price, and Jesus paid that price to call you and I His friend.

According to John 15: 13 Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends.”

There are many examples of what true friendship looks like in the word of God

Abraham was a true friend of God, He showed himself faithful even when he could not see nor understand what God was doing. (Gen 15:6) Abraham believed God and it was and all the promises of God.

Moses was such a friend of God that God with speak to Him face to face, as a man speaks to his friends (Deut34:10)