What is a friend?

What is a friend? There are probably as many definitions as there are friendships. What does the Bible have to say about “friends?”

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is

born for adversity”

(Proverbs 17:17, NIV).

True friends don’t run when there’s trouble.  They get under the load with you and share the burden.

“Wounds from a friend can be trusted,

but an enemy multiplies kisses” 

(Proverbs 27:6, NIV). 

True friends don’t tell you what you want to hear, they tell you what you need to hear, even if it risks the relationship.

To have friends a man must show himself friendly.

(Proverbs 18:24a, my paraphrase)

    

True friends treat others as they would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12).

But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. 

(Proverbs 18:24b, NKJV)

Our greatest Friend and our model of friendship is Jesus, the “friend of sinners.” Before Jesus went to the cross to pay for the forgiveness of your sins and mine He said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, NIV). And He told us how we could be His friend in return. “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14, NIV).  Jesus commanded us to love one another as He has loved us. And the only way to do that is to have Jesus living out His life in us and through us through the power of  the Holy Spirit.  If you don’t know Him already you can know Him now. Simply tell Him you are sorry for your sins and that you believe He paid for them on the cross. Then ask Him to come into your heart and be your Savior and Lord and friend forever.

If you would like to know more about the friend you have in Jesus, read the Bible (Proverbs 18:24, Matthew 11:19, John 13:34-35, Galatians 5:22), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

A good book is hard to put down

A good book is hard to put down.  Sometimes we want to stay up all night just to finish it.
Human history is like that, too. The Story of Mankind is a drama that is being played out before our very eyes. But some of us will not see the ending in our lifetime.

Thank God for the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Even with all this book’s imagery and symbolism, God said we would be blessed by reading it, even if we don’t understand it all.  A story goes that a person who had just recently trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior read the Book of Revelation.  An older Christian, thinking that the symbolism must have been confusing to the young Christian, asked him if he understood what he had read. “Yes,” said the new believer. “You did?” said the older Christian somewhat surprised. “Yes,” said the new believer, “We win!”

Revelation tells how right up to the close of history, Jesus is fighting and overcoming the sin and evil of this world.

But Jesus loves sinners.

If you confess your sins to Him and trust Him to save you He will write your name in The Lamb’s Book of Life and you will spend eternity with God... the one who loves you and gave up His life for you.

You will not experience the horrors that were originally designed for the devil and his demons.

To learn more about Jesus, read the Bible (John3:1-21, 1 John 1:8-9, The Book of Revelation), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

With Jesus there is no waiting in line

With billions of people to watch over, millions of people praying at once, you would think God would get distracted and confused and we would end up having to wait in line to talk to him. But God is more amazing than we could ever imagine. And with Jesus there is no waiting in line.

God has a lot to do.
He gives every creature its next breath.
He knows each star by name and holds every one of them in their place.
He plans the rise and fall of nations and He plans the lives of billions of individuals.

But God has time for us. Whenever we call on Him He gives us His complete and undivided attention. He knows our plans before we make them, yet He wants to hear about them from us in every detail. He knows our secret dreams, yet He listens to them with rapt attention and encourages us as we reveal our heart to Him. He knows everything about us but longs to spend time with us and
treasures what we have to say to Him.

Such a God deserves the love of His children. If you are not His child, or not sure if you are His child, then you can have the greatest listener in the world as your Father.  Simply tell Him you are sorry for all your sins and believe that Jesus paid for them in full when He died on the cross.  Then believe that He rose from the dead so that you can live now and forever with Him and God the Father. You will become His cherished child and He will become your listening Father.

To learn more about God, read the Bible (Jeremiah 29:11, John 11:25, Hebrews 4:12-16, Colossians 1:21-23, 2:13-14, Psalm 147:4), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

Created to Worship

Usually when I think of idols I think of strange figures from far away lands. But we have many idols right here at home: youth, riches, power, prestige, career, homes, anything that we put our hope and trust in. We were created with a need to worship God, but, if we don’t know Him we will naturally worship something else to take His place.  The problem is that nothing else can take His place.  None of these idols can rescue us when we are in trouble.

But God can.

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, 

fulfill your vows to the Most High, 

and call upon me in the day of trouble; 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” 

(Psalm 50:14-15, NIV).

God alone is powerful enough and caring enough to be worthy of our hope, trust and love. If we are willing to honor Him as God, ask Him for help, and submit to His leadership, He will take responsibility for delivering us out of, or through, our troubles.

Call upon the Lord today, whether you are in trouble or not, and begin a relationship with the One who loves you most and wants to meet your every need.

To learn more about God, read the Bible (Psalm 34), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

God is waiting to listen to you

Jesus prayed.

He prayed in the early morning and in the late of night. He was constantly in touch with His Father and sensitive to His will. Jesus encourages you and me to pray too. Why? Because the Father wants
us to participate with Him in the bringing about of His will on earth. Because the Father wants to change us to be more like His Son.  Because the Father wants to love the world through us. And most of all because the Father wants to listen to us and serve us and meet our needs and to heal us.

If you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior you have a right to come boldly before God’s throne of grace and ask anything according to His will and He will do it.

If you do not know the Father personally but would like to, you can right now. Simply agree with God that you have had wrong attitudes and actions in the past and that with His help you will turn away from these sins. Believe that Jesus died to pay for these sins and that God raised Him
to life again so that you could be raised to life again with Him. Then tell others about what a wonderful thing Jesus has done for you.

If you’ve known Jesus for years or you have just met Him now you can help bring God’s will to your nation, your state, your city and your home.

“If my people, who are called by my name, 

will humble themselves and pray and seek my face 

and turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their

sin and will heal their land” 

(2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV).

Each year the first Thursday in May is designated as the National Day of Prayer.  Join together with thousands of other Christians on that day, in both public and personal settings, to repent and ask God to forgive us and heal us as a nation and as individuals.

To learn more about how much God wants to listen to you, read the Bible (Luke 11:1-13, 18:1-8), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches that Jesus is God.

A Bug’s Light

We can learn from bugs.

Within the lowly ant God has placed wisdom that at times can be even greater than our own.  In the Bible God says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8, NIV).

God points us to the lowly ants as tutors to teach us to make the most of the opportunities we have when we have them.  An ant cannot think on the level that you and I can. God has “wired them up” with His own wisdom.  They don’t have a choice.  But to you and I He has given the glorious privilege and responsibility of a free will and the opportunity to personally know and love Himself, the loving God who made us. God didn’t “wire us up” to love Him. Love cannot be forced. What He did do is give Himself totally to us. By dying on the cross to forgive our sins He made a loving relationship with Him possible. And by rising from the dead He made it possible to live now and forever with Him.

So now is the time to decide. You were created for a life forever with Jesus. And only you can make the choice to join Him. Ask Him to forgive your sins and be the Lord of your life and He will fill you with His love, life and presence both now and forevermore.

To learn more about God’s love for you read, the Bible (Hebrews 2:5-18), talk to a friend who knows Jesus’ love, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

You can rise above it all

Do you have problems? 

How do we rise above them?

Jesus faced problems. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus sweat great drops of blood when facing the anguish of being separated from God his Father. Jesus knew that soon he would take upon himself all the world’s sin, including mine and yours. God would then pour out all of his holy wrath against sin upon Jesus, and God would turn his back on his Son.

How did Jesus handle this problem? Jesus began by asking that God would take away this problem from him, but only if that was God’s will. Jesus asked three times but God did not choose to remove Jesus’ problem.

Instead, as Jesus poured out his troubled heart to his Father, Jesus found the strength and the peace from his Father to do his Father’s will. There in the garden, in fellowship with his Father, Jesus gained victory over what was to come. And, because of Jesus’ faith and obedience even to the point
of death on the cross, God raised him out of the grave on Easter morning to be our Lord and Savior forevermore.

The same strength and peace that Jesus found in his trouble is available to us for ours. And through God’s love and power working in and through us we can have the same victory over our problems that Jesus had over his.

And then we can rise above it all.

If you know Jesus personally you can know His power. If you would like to know Jesus personally simply tell Him you are sorry for the wrong attitudes and actions you have had in the past. Tell him you believe He paid the price for those sins when He died on the cross. Ask Him to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life. And tell Him you believe that when He arose from the dead He arose so that you could live both now and forever with Him.

If you would like to learn more about Jesus, read the Bible (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 26:36-28:20), talk to a friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

All things keep becoming new!

“Forgetting what is behind and straining

toward what is ahead, I press on

toward the goal to win the prize for

which God has called me heavenward

in Christ Jesus.”

- the Apostle Paul

(Philippians 3:13b-14, NIV)

If we were trapped by our past and limited by the finite possibilities of our unchangeable history, we would be truly hopeless creatures indeed. But God, through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, wiped away all the things that could hold us back.

Our sins, and our inclination toward sin, were nailed to the cross with Jesus. And when He died, the problem of our past died with Him. If you and I will admit our sins to God, turn away from them and allow Jesus to save and lead us, then through God’s resurrection power, Jesus can offer us a brand new life.

"For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new

person altogether - the past is finished and gone,

everything has become fresh and new"

(2 Corinthians 5:17, Phillips).

We will still be influenced by the thought patterns and habits of yesterday. But, now we have a choice. We can choose our old way of life again and suffer the painful consequences. Or, we can resist our old patterns and choose to love and obey God.

If we choose to obey Him, our mind will be renewed and we will be transformed to be more and more like Jesus Christ. And then we will know the joy of the Lord.

If you would like to know more about new life in Christ, read the Bible (John 10:10, 14:6, Romans 8:1-17, Philippians 3:7-17), talk to a friend who has found new life in Jesus, visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

We're not getting older... we're getting better.

On a park bench sits a lady reading.
She retired long ago.
She’s alone but not lonely.
She has a friend you can’t see with your eyes
but must be sensed with your heart.
She listens to him while she reads his love letter to her.
And though outwardly she might be wasting away,
yet inwardly her friend is renewing her day by day.
Her friend is Jesus.
And the love letters are in the Bible.
And while all of us are “outwardly wasting away” (2 Corinthians 4:16),
if we know and follow Jesus then, as the saying goes,
we are not getting older... we’re getting better.
Jesus is changing us on the inside day by day as we follow Him.
And when we eventually die we won’t really die.
Rather, we will be ushered into the presence of our Friend and Savior Jesus Christ.
If you would like Jesus to renew you day by day simply
ask Him to forgive your sins and ask Him to be your Savior.
As you follow Him He will grow you and change
you and you will live forever with Him.
If you would like to know more about Jesus,
read the Bible (2 Corinthians 4:16, John 11:25, 15:13-15),
talk to a friend that knows and loves Jesus,
Visit a Church that teaches Jesus is God.

___________The truth can hurt... and help ________

Sometimes the truth can hurt.

Often we remain blissfully blind to the

“less-than-perfect” aspects of ourselves.

When our faults are pointed out by someone

we feel doesn’t have our best

interest at heart, it can be a deeply

wounding experience.

But sometimes the truth can

hurt and help. That’s what happens

when a trusted friend tells us what we

need to know about ourselves, for our

own benefit. Some people

fear that Jesus came into

the world to shame us by

pointing out all our faults

and failures. 

Nothing could

be further from the truth. 

Jesus does

tell us in no uncertain terms that we

are sinners. But He also tells us that

we are of infinite worth to Him and

that He came to die to deliver us

from those sins.

“For God so loved the world (you and me)

that he gave his one and only [begotten] Son, that

whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the

world to condemn the world, but to

save the world through him”

(John 3:16-17, NIV).

And, “If we confess our sins, he is

faithful and just and will forgive

us our sins and purify us of all

unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV).

So call out to Jesus. He is

not ashamed to call

us His brothers and

sisters. Though our

pride may be hurt for

a moment as we

acknowledge and turn away

from our sins, we will be

helped forever by the forgiveness

and life-changing power

of Jesus Christ.

To learn more about God,

read the Bible (Proverbs 27:6,

Hebrews 2:11, John 3:1-21), talk to a

friend who knows Jesus, visit a Church

that teaches that Jesus is God.