In Proverbs 17:17 we read, “A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 18:24 "A man that has friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother".
Friends are usually the family we choose outside of our family!!!
The friendship program which the Holy Spirit gives us is the "One Another" program....James 5:16 – “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much". This tells me that there is no "Us" and "Them" in the church of Jesus but only "One Another"...among friends.
Chuck Swindoll has made the observation that,“ The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit that there is to the fellowship Christ wants us to have as his church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality – but it is a permissive, accepting and inclusive fellowship. The competition is close...with as many bars in town as there are churches! The "Cheers" TV program theme is "Sometimes you wanna go where everyone knows your name, and they're always glad you came, you want to be where you can see, our troubles are all the same, cause you wanna be where everybody knows your name". What you don't see is the morning after hangovers and hugging the toilet..... The bar doesn't flourishes because most people are alcoholics, (HMMMMMM) but they flourish, because the human heart desires to be accepted, to belong, to love and be loved, and so many seek that at the price of a few beers and shots.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 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. Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.”
Some one has suggested that we have been successful in life if we have enough close friends to act as pall bearers at our funeral.
Here's some signs that may let you know you need some friends in your life.....1. Even tele-markerters don't call you...2. You go to the Red Box and say out loud to yourself, "Well, what do you want to rent tonight?" 3. You are one of the five best solitaire players in the world. 4. At your funeral, the entire eulogy is, "Yep, he's dead." 10. All your phone calls are with doctors, lawyers, suicide prevention, or places you owe money, and 11. most of your calls start with "900" or "911"....
We usually think of the BIGNESS of God, but to think of Jesus as a friend is to allow God to come down to our size, to a place I can really relate to. Every person here in this room understands the word, friend, and therefore everyone here in this room has a feeling or a sense of what the core of our relationship with Christ is supposed to be. The relationship of a Friend.
In the book of Acts, chapter 26, Saul is on his way to Demascus to kill Christians, and he has an encounter with Jesus on the road. He was struck blind and had to be led by the hand. He had traveled some 120 dusty miles to persecute believers and stop the church from growing there. Then, just as the city came into view, just when he was anticipating a hot shower and a good meal, he runs into the risen Christ, who destroys his eye sight, with one blinding light. Saul was suddenly thrust into a sightless world, groping in the dark. With one deafening statement from heaven, he discovered that everything he believed to be true was now false. He had discovered that Jesus wasn't the enemy. Jesus was the Lord!
I'm sure that In the three days that passed, in the darkness of his blindness, loneliness, confusion, grief, and despair became Saul's roommates. In the depth of all this, God was about to reveal the power of a faithful friend, which Saul had (well let's count them....OH, Uh, ZERO!). But he was about to meet, two of the best friends he would ever have.
First, the Lord commanded Ananias to go to Saul. (Ananias means "The favor of God) Even though he was frightened at the task, he was willing to obey when he DIDN'T AGREE! Ananias went as the Lord directed him, and became the first friend Saul found in his new family of faith.
Then another friend showed up.... Barnabas became Saul's advocate and best contact in Jerusalem, for the destiny God had chosen for him. (Barnabas means "The encourager”) If not for Barnabas, Saul might not have even met the rest of the frightened apostles, who only saw him as a murderer and persecuter of the church. You know what I'm talking about, those folks who bless everyone when they LEAVE the room.....
Saul never forgot the friends he found in Ananias and Barnabas. It was a friendship that was about to change the world. It's impossible to understate the power of a faithful friend, and it's critically important that we be that kind of friend to people in our lives..... (the messengers of the favor of God and the messengers of encouragement)
Dr. Bernie Siegel, in a study he conducted, found that Single men, on the average, are jailed more often, earn less, have more illnesses and die at a younger age than married men. Married men with cancer live 20% longer than single men with the same cancer. Women, have more close friendships than men, and as a result live longer than most men. The common item that all had who lived longer was more friends... Good friendships will keep you alive!!!!
By looking at these irreplaceable friends in Paul's life, we learn a few characteristics of a faithful friend, and are we willing to be the friend that we need someone else to be?
I. Friends will always be there....(someone said, hold on to your best friends, because they know too much about you)...Ha!
Have you already been thinking about the best friends you've had? If the faces of your favorite people have already come to mind, you're remembering people who found a way to be with you. How many stories would we have today if we told of friends who drove hundreds of miles to be with you, who jumped on an airplane to be by your side, or those who canceled appointments to join you? The details differ, but one thing is certain about faithful friends; they don't stop with a phone call, letter, or an e-mail. They find a way to be there.
Imagine if you were in real need and you called on your best friend. He or she says, "I can't help you. They're showing a rerun of my favorite television show tonight." You would quickly know the truth. That person is not a friend. A friend will be with you, even if he or she must go to great trouble or expense to do so. A faithful friend simply ignores his or her own needs in order to help a friend. Friendship isn’t just about people you like to be with, but it’s about people who like to be with you”.... But then God throws a curve ball in the mix....what if God asked you to be the friend to an enemy? (I'm not talking about "the enemy of my enemy is my friend")... Can I give you the best way to destroy your enemy... make them your friend!!!! Well, the Lord has asked you to be a friend to the enemy of your enemy's enemy!!! ....In half a dozen places in Scripture, Jesus said, " Love your enemies." And when God says it, what can we say but ...OK.... I don't like it, but...OK! In Luke 6:35 Jesus said, "Do good to your enemy, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great " It’s easy to give gifts to those who you know will give gifts to you.... It’s easy to be kind to those who will be kind to you....but DO GOOD TO YOUR ENEMIES? ....OK, OK!!! I get it Lord! So... one day God said, "Ananias, I have a new friend that I want you to meet today..." Ananias must have thought..."is there someone else up there I could talk to".... He had a family and a set of faithful friends. He lived in Damascus, kept up with the news, and he knew a terrorist named Saul was on the loose. Before he fully understood, Ananias simply said, "Yes, Lord." Before he had all the details, Ananias gave the correct answer. Ananias was willing to become a friend to an enemy, despite his own fear, because another name for Christian is “Friend”.
When the UCLA football team suffered really poor season in the early 1970s, head coach Pepper Rodgers came under intense criticism and a lot of negative pressure and criticism from alumni and fans. Things got so bad, that friends became hard to find. "My dog was my only true friend," Rodgers says of that year. "I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends and she went out and bought me another dog."
There is power in just being a friend, when other friends are gone!
Friends know the power of a gentle touch....
What a great gift Ananias gave when he came to see Saul for the first time. Luke records it in Acts 9:17: "Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul . . ."
Most every culture uses touch in greeting - a handshake, a bear hug, a kiss on the cheek, a kiss on both cheeks! A touch can show sympathy, friendship, trust and encouragement - sometimes that's a powerful thing.
Saul had come to Damascus to literally bind the hands of Ananias and possibly stone him as he did Stephen. Instead, Ananias used his hands to gently touch Saul. They had both originally anticipated a life and death struggle, maybe even a battle to the death. Instead, a kind touch is extended from the one who is the hunted to one who is the hunter.
Imagine how Saul might have felt before Ananias arrived. He'd had no food or drink for three days, and the men he came with were frightened and confounded at what happened on the road, and they could get no explanation from Saul. After three days, they were frustrated. If Saul wanted to sit in the darkness and die of starvation, they couldn't stop him! He was blind, frightened, and depressed. But God had a simple a solution for Paul's problem, He sent him a friend! Think of this. Before Saul heard a word from Ananias, a stranger.... before he knew the answers to his questions, Saul felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He turned toward the voice, his blind eyes trying to take in the face of a man who would touch him so kindly with such acceptance.
A faithful friend knows how to hold someone when he or she is hurting, how to communicate love with touch, even restore confidence with a special grip or a shoulder bump. You see these big bad football players, patting one another on the butt! Don't underestimate the power of a gentle touch.
When Howard Hughes, was worth approximately 4 billion dollars, he was isolated and alone. He said, "I'd give all I have for one good friend."
Money can buy a House, but not a Home...It can buy a Bed, but it can't buy Sleep....It can buy a Clock, but it can't buy you time...It can buy you a Position, but it can't buy Respect...It can buy you Medicine, but it can't buy Health....It can buy you Blood, but it can't buy life....And it can buy popularity, but it can’t buy true friends...
Friends Speak the right words at the right time... A faithful friend does not just say kind words, but the right words at the right time. Aristotle said, “True friends hold a mirror in front of you, so you can see your real self”.... A true friend can hug you and kick your butt at the same time! Ananias shared the truth with Saul in a very gentle way and baptized him. The first person whom Saul saw after he heard the truth of the Holy Spirit was a God-sent best friend.
Here's a trivia question for you. What was the second name Saul had in Scripture? If you said Paul" then you are wrong. Paul is the third name he had in Scripture.
Look at Acts 9:17 “Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
You probably spotted it. The second name Saul had was “Brother”!.
It may not seem like a big deal to us, but you can bet Saul never forgot the day a man called him “Brother” for the first time. Imagine sitting in darkness for three days without food, drink, or encouragement and suddenly receiving a kind word. A word of acceptance and forgiveness.. What a gift!
Over the next several days, he taught Saul, he encouraged him, and he introduced him to more people who had that same touch, that same kindness, that same love born of the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful new life of power and purpose, Saul discovered in Damascus, in the form of faithful friends. What would happen in our church if each one of us went out and found one person a month, to be a friend and mentor to.... you would each have 12 friends that you were investing yourself in, for God's kindgom. That would mean, at the end of one year, we would have 164 friends, not just attenders .... at Eagle's Rest.... Friends Don't waver in supporting you...and we have someone more powerful than superman looking out for us.....
In 1967, Stu Webber was in the U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was brutal training for brutal times. The war with Vietnam was the backdrop for the young men trying to survive the heat, humidity, and the demands placed upon them at the Ranger School.
Webber who became a pastor and author, writes of the day the raspy voice of the drill sergeant barked out his first, passionate speech. "We are here to save your lives," he told the young men headed for combat. "First, we're going to see to it that you overcome all your natural fears. … And second, we are going to show you just how much incredible stress the human mind and body can endure. And when we're finished with you, you will be the U.S. Army's best! America's best. You will be confident. You will survive, even in combat. And you will accomplish your mission!" And then, the sergeant gave Webber and his fellow recruits their first assignment. These guys were ready for anything. They had mentally prepared for a 10-mile run in full battle gear. They'd rappelled down sheer cliffs, jumped out of perfectly good airplanes. So what would be the tough guy's first tough order? "Find yourself a Ranger buddy," he growled. "You will stick together. You will never leave each other. You will encourage each other, and, as it becomes necessary, you will carry each other." It was the army's way of saying, difficult assignments require a friend and that Together is always better.
When Saul met Barnabas. He had no idea then that God had placed next to him the one man the church had already nicknamed "The Encourager" (Acts 4:36). What a Ranger-type buddy to have!
All along the way, for more than 120 miles, Saul would have met people who had been changed by Jesus, now that his eyes had been opened by his friends that God had placed in his life.
Imagine his excitement as he came to Jerusalem. Finally, he would meet Peter, and John, and James. He'd sit down with Bartholomew, Andrew, and Simon the Zealot, and have dinner with Thomas. He would meet them all, these men who had walked with Jesus. He would tire them out with his questions, he would wait on their every need, he would pour over the Torah with them, looking for the prophetic markers of Jesus all through the Scripture.
It was Barnabas (the encourager) that took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
What a beautiful example Barnabas was. As it was then, it is today. A faithful friend stands with you, stands up for you, and doesn't waver in his support. If you've found such a friend, you've found a great source of power. If you are that friend, God's power is working through you! Scripture is clear that when you are true to your friends, God's favor shows up!
Job 42:10 “And the LORD turned the situation of Job, when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had”.
Remember that Job was in great suffering when he prayed for his friends.... he had to move beyond his own condition in order to minister to them. Sometimes God will ask you to pray for someone else when you are in worse condition than they are. Whenever He asks you that, He brings His reward with him....The reward of favor, opportunity, and connections.
A faithful friend will stay with you, and even put your needs before their own.. Friendship is a two way street.....
A poem says "Around the corner I have a friend, and there are many corners In this great land. Yet days go by and weeks rush on, And before I know it a year is gone. And I never see my old friend's face, because life is a swift and terrible race. He knows I like him just as well, as in the days when we were real close pals.We were younger then and played life's game, now we're Tired of trying to make a name. "Tomorrow," I say, "I will call on Jim, Just to show that I'm thinking of him."But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes. And the distance between us grows and grows. Around the corner, yet miles away..."and the smart phone message said he died today"....
We are told in Acts 9:30; and Galatians 1:17-18, that after meeting the disciples, Saul took some time off to sort through everything. Sometimes it’s good to retreat before you advance.... and he retreated for three years of study, prayer, and reflection, Acts 11:25-26 tells us that Barnabas went to Tarsus which is part of modern day Turkey, to look for Saul, and when he found him preaching and teaching there, he brought him to Antioch which is now part of Syria. Believers were first called “Cristians” at Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.
Think about the way Ananias and Barnabas helped change the world. Saul - who became known as the Apostle Paul - eventually would become the most important missionary in Christian history, a leader the equal of Peter and John in the early church, and the most prolific writer in the New Testament.
God spoke to Ananias, and to Barnabas, and asked them to be a friend to a man who desperately needed them. And they changed the world.
God works in simple ways. Somewhere, perhaps today, a person near you needs a faithful friend. If you answer God's call to be that friend, it might be you who changes the world.
The Cherokee indians bestow manhood on the young men, if they are able to pass a test. They must swear to never tell anyone about the test even after they become a man. They are taken far out into the woods and blind folded. They are told to sit on a stump and not move the entire night. With the growls, and howls and shreiks, the hissing, and sounds of things creeping and walking through the leaves... while they are totally alone. In the darkness, the loneliness, and the feeling of vulnerability, they must not move or remove the blindfold. When the sunlight warms their face, they are aware of hands removing the blindfold and realize that their dad had spent the entire night sitting on the stump beside them.
They were never really alone, even though they felt alone. We are like that young indian boy.... no matter how alone we feel, how vulnerable and exposed to the forces around us.... We have a friend who is always right there with us.
The Psalmist said.... Psalms 23:4 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me". (it's the valley of shadows) Shadows can't hurt you, when we understand that they are just shadows. That is exactly what FEAR stands for... False Evidence Appearing Real.... Paul warns us about boxing shadows... 1Corinthians 9:26 "I therefore run, not as uncertainly, I do not fight as that that beat the air"... In other words, you wear yourself out, and there is really nothing there....BUT SHADOWS!!!
The Bible says is the mark of a good friend is that the friend is willing to die for you. I have been thinking about my good friends this past week, and I don’t think that any of them are willing to die for me. I have a great friend who is too busy enjoying his retirement, to die for me. And my good friends who are ministers, wouldn’t die for me either. If I were to walk around this room and ask each of you, "would you die for me at 2:00 today?" You wouldn’t die for me either. Come to think about it, my only friend who is willing to die for me is Jesus Christ. How amazing is that!!! I can't comprehend that level of friendship. In the death of Jesus on the cross, by taking my judgment, when I was totally guilty....God showed that He loves me more than any other friend I have ever had or will have.
On the last night Jesus was together with the deciples at what we call "The Lord's Supper", He spoke these words....John 15:13-16 “No greater love has any person than this, that they are willing to lay down their life for their friends. Now, you are my friends, if you do what I command you, to love one another. You didn’t chose me, but I chose you. I chose you to be my disciples and friends. I don’t call you servants because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing, but I call you friends because you know what the master is thinking and doing. You know the inside of the master’s head and heart. You are my friends.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him would not die but have
