F-WORD VOCAB #4
FRIENDSHIP
This month our theme is “Our heavenly Dad’s F Word Vocab”
I broke this down in the first session with “The operative factors of this theme are that God is our Heavenly Dad and He speaks with us, intentionally.” - In other words, God’s uses language to generate relationship.
We’ve touched on Faith, Fear, Forgiveness and Freedom over the course of this month and today our topic is FRIEND
FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD
God famously called Abraham a friend of God, he spoke to Moses ‘as with a friend’
2 Chronicles 20:7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? (Also Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23)
Exodus 33:11 “And the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.”
GOD DESIRES FRIENDSHIP WITH US
John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 15:13 “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:15 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
WE MUST CHOOSE TO ENTER IN TO THIS FRIENDSHIP
James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
John 15:14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you
Note: Jesus actually modeled this
Philippians 2:5-11 “Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings. When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him a name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
John 4:34 “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
EXCELLENT FRIENDSHIP
LOVE // SETTING THE TONE
1 Corinthians 12:31 “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.”
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 22:11 He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
Proverbs 27:14 “He that blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.”
Proverbs 18:24 “A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.”
SEE OTHER’S AS BETTER THAN YOURSELF
Philippians 2:3-4 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS
Job 42:10 “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
BE WISE IN YOUR CHOICE OF FRIENDS
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Proverbs 22:24 “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.”
Proverbs 27:10 “Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.”
IF IT DON’T EDIFY, WHY WOULD WE BE SAYING IT?
Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Job 32:3 Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
Proverbs 16:28 “A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.”
Proverbs 17:9 “He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates close friends.”
Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
Proverbs 27:9 "Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.”
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
B.I.D
BIBLICALLY INFORMED DECISIONS;
Make sure TODAY that your relationship with God is established and in the right place
Make the choice TODAY to become a tone-setting friendship cultivator
Notes provided by Esther Melody Smith