Tag Archives: friendship

Don’t wait until Friendship Day to celebrate (John 15:12-17)

Today’s Podcast

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Topic Introduction with headline.
Scripture
1. John 15:12-17
2. Jesus: My commandment to you is this: love others as I have loved you. There is no greater way to love than to give your life for your friends. You celebrate our friendship if you obey this command. I don’t call you servants any longer; servants don’t know what the master is doing, but I have told you everything the Father has said to Me. I call you friends. You did not choose Me. I chose you, and I orchestrated all of this so that you would be sent out and bear great and perpetual fruit. As you do this, anything you ask the Father in My name will be done. This is My command to you: love one another.
Devotional
1. Friendship day is August 6th this year. You might not even know we have a friendship day, but there is it.
  1. Jesus tells us to celebrate friendship with Him if you obey His command to love one another.
  2. That’s one real friendship is all about
  3. Love God and love each other as we love ourselves
2. But what is friendship?
  1. The history of friendship day is a little shady, a little commercial.
  2. Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards 1930 to sell cards to send to friends
  3. Definition of friendship
    1. the emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends
    2. a relationship between friends
    3. a state of mutual trust and support between allied nations
  4. Friend
    1. a person who has a strong liking for and trust in another person
    2. a person who is not an enemy
    3. a person who helps or supports something
3. We don’t have many real friends in our society today; we live in isolation in crowded places
  1. Go to any restaurant or park or place where groups of people are gathered
  2. Watch their interactions
  3. Most are tied to their smartphones texting
  4. We isolate ourselves from each other without human touch and emotion
  5. We can avoid commitment by cutting the phone connection
4. Jesus said no greater love than to give His life for a friend
  1. Does that mean death?
  2. In His case it did
  3. But it might mean life; servanthood; caring enough to be present in times of need
  4. Give life when life crashes in around a friend; when they need help or support for something
  5. “A friend in need is a friend indeed” as far as Euripides in 424 BC
5. Friendship Day is not the time to celebrate friendship
  1. Today is the day
  2. Everyday is the day to celebrate friendship
  3. Be a friend
  4. Give your life to someone in need; serve with love and make a friend
  5. Jesus expected nothing in return for His friendship and says we are to be like Him
  6. Hard steps to follow but that is the command He give and it starts with love
  7. He loves us so we can love others and express genuine friendship to those around us
6. Go celebrate a few months early
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Do you have a notorious sinner as a friend? (Luke 19:5-10) December 23, 2016

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Revelations 12-17

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 19:5-10
Jesus: Zaccheus, hurry down from that tree because I need to stay at your house tonight.
Zaccheus scrambles down and joyfully brings Jesus back to his house. Now the crowd sees this, and they’re upset.
Crowd (grumbling): Jesus has become the houseguest of this fellow who is a notorious sinner.
Zaccheus: Lord, I am giving half of my goods to the poor, and whomever I have cheated I will pay back four times what I took.
Jesus: Today liberation has come to this house, since even Zaccheus is living as a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to liberate the lost.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Do you know any notorious sinners? I hope so. It gives you a good opportunity to become friends with them, invite them into your house, eat dinner with them, get to know them, and let them get to know you. It gives you an opportunity to let them see your life in side and out. It lets them see you in the crisis times of life and how you rely on God to get you through those tough times and how you praise Him for the good times. If you get to know a notorious sinner, you might have the opportunity to help him out when he gets in a tough spot and show God’s grace through your actions.

Does that mean you condone what he does that doesn’t conform to God’s law? No. Neither did Jesus. When Jesus went to Zaccheus house for dinner, I’m sure He didn’t go there with the intent of learning how to cheat people on their taxes. That’s what Zaccheus was know for. I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t intend to get stone drunk at dinner and make a fool of Himself. I’m pretty sure Jesus planned to enjoy Himself at dinner and talk to Zaccheus about what He was doing in His ministry, the people He was meeting along the way, the help He was able to give, the joy God brought to individual’s hearts when they changed their ways and followed His commands.

Jesus didn’t condone sin, but He loved sinners. He demonstrated that fact over and over throughout His ministry. He associated with the notorious sinners. Those labeled as the worst of the worst so those on the fringe and we could know that God will forgive anyone who comes to Him with a repentant heart. And what better way to tell the story of God’s forgiveness than over a meal?

When your eating with someone, you’re eyeball to eyeball with them. It’s hard to just walk away in the middle of a meal. Especially if they invited you to dinner. What are they going to do? Grab you by the collar and throw you out in the street? If they have come to know you as a friend that really cares about them, probably not. They will listen to your stories. They will see the sincerity in your eyes. They will feel your passion and compassion. They will know you believe what you tell them. It will cause them to think about what you say.

Will you win them to Jesus? Maybe. Maybe not. They must make the choice for themselves. But you will at least plant a seed that may have a chance to grow in them. If you are friends with notorious sinners you will have a better chance of reaching them for Jesus than any pastor preaching in a pulpit. Why? Because that notorious sinner won’t show up at that pastor’s services. No matter how great a preacher, no matter how persuasive, no matter how successful he is in sharing God’s word and convincing others to come to Christ, if that notorious sinner never enters those church doors, he will never hear the pastor’s great message. The truth will have to come from a Christian friend.

Jesus showed us by example how best to spread the good news. He went to the homes of those who needed to hear it most. He went to the people who needed Him. He didn’t wait for them to come to Him. He didn’t expect them to approach Him, He traveled the countryside and went to them. The crowds gathered around Him, but those crowds came from the nearby villages, not from half way across the country. The crowds were locals that sought Him out when He came to their town.

We in the church are sometimes afraid, or maybe, like the Pharisees, too proud or pious, to associate with the notorious sinners. But how else will they hear that Jesus loves them just as much as He loved us when He offered us the chance to have our sins forgiven and an opportunity to attain eternal life with Him. How else will they come to know Him as Savior unless friends carry the message to them.

So the questions for us today: Do you know any notorious sinners? Have you made friends with them? Have you share the good news of God’s love with them? If not, what are you waiting for? Jesus showed us how with Zaccheus as a great example for us. You might help win a Zaccheus today if you try. Let’s get at it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Be generous, helpful, and kind (Luke 16:1-13) December 9, 2016

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Revelation 7-11

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

16:1-13
Jesus: Once there was a rich and powerful man who had an asset manager. One day, the man received word that his asset manager was squandering his assets.
The rich man brought in the asset manager and said, “You’ve been accused of wrongdoing. I want a full and accurate accounting of all your financial transactions because you are really close to being fired.”The manager said to himself, “Oh, no! Now what am I going to do? I’m going to lose my job here, and I’m too weak to dig ditches and too proud to beg. I have an idea. This plan will mean that I have a lot of hospitable friends when I get fired.”
So the asset manager set up appointments with each person who owed his master money. He said to the first debtor, “How much do you owe my boss?” The debtor replied, “A hundred barrels of oil.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your bill by half. Just write 50 on this contract.” Then he said to the second debtor, “How much do you owe?” This fellow said, “A hundred bales of wheat.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your debt by 20 percent. Just write down 80 bales on this contract.”
When the manager’s boss realized what he had done, he congratulated him for at least being clever. That’s how it is: those attuned to this evil age are more clever in dealing with their affairs than the enlightened are in dealing with their affairs!
Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.
If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities. If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things. If you can’t even handle a small thing like money, who’s going to entrust you with spiritual riches that really matter? If you don’t manage well someone else’s assets that are entrusted to you, who’s going to give over to you important spiritual and personal relationships to manage?
Imagine you’re a servant and you have two masters giving you orders. What are you going to do when they have conflicting demands? You can’t serve both, so you’ll either hate the first and love the second, or you’ll faithfully serve the first and despise the second. One master is God and the other is money. You can’t serve them both.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Did you get that lesson about the purpose of money? We really blow it these days. We think the purpose of money is to get more stuff for us. We think it is to make us more comfortable or make us look more important or ensure our future. But Jesus didn’t mention any of those things when He talked about the purpose of money as He discussed this parable with those around Him, did He? “The purpose of money,” He said, “is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind.”

That is a far cry from what the world tells us to do with our money, isn’t it? Financial managers will tell us to hoard it away. Make sure you multiply it so you don’t run out. Don’t give too much of it away because then you won’t have it. The world says use it for your personal gain. That’s how you get ahead in this world.

Jesus’ advice and the world’s advice are rather contradictory to each other, aren’t they? But who should we listen to? If God made the world and He will be the final judge of our actions at the end of time, doesn’t it make sense to pay attention to His rules instead of the world’s rules? Doesn’t it make sense to take God’s advice since He’s the one we will face someday?

Even if you don’t believe there is a heaven and hell, being generous and kind doesn’t do any harm to you or anyone else. And if you are right, you have done good things for others all your life. You have been good and kind and generous and helped others along life’s path. But if you’re wrong and you fail to give to others, hoard everything you make, push aside others and fail to help others along life’s path, what will you say to God when you face Him at the judgment?

If you don’t believe, you still might not make it across the threshold into heaven, but I’m not God, thank goodness, and I don’t know how He will judge at the end of time. Perhaps ignorance of Him will be weighed against good things you have done or failure to do those good things. Perhaps generosity and kindness will have something to do with the intensity of punishment received. I have to tell you I don’t know how all that will work. The Bible doesn’t tell us. But one thing for sure, Jesus’ words about the use of money point us again and again to using it to help others not ourselves. Being generous and helpful and kind with the assets God entrusts to us. So we’d best get on with those duties, don’t you think.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Practice His practices (Luke 15:3-10) December 6, 2016

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Nehemiah 5-9

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 15:3-10
Jesus (with another parable): Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one, leave the 99 in their grazing lands and go out searching for the lost sheep until you find it? When you find the lost sheep, wouldn’t you hoist it up on your shoulders, feeling wonderful? And when you go home, wouldn’t you call together your friends and neighbors? Wouldn’t you say, “Come over and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep”? This is how it is in heaven. They’re happier over one sinner who changes his way of life than they are over 99 good and just people who don’t need to change their ways of life.
Or imagine a woman who has 10 silver coins. She loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the whole house, and search diligently until that coin is found? And when she finds it, doesn’t she invite her friends and neighbors and say, “Celebrate with me! I’ve found that silver coin that I lost”? Can’t you understand? There is joy in the presence of all God’s messengers over even one sinner who changes his way of life.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Maybe it’s just because I’m getting older and notice it more, but I really think it’s true. We, who call ourselves Christians become more and more critical without showing God’s grace in return. This past year I’ve really noticed it. Even in this season of the year when people normally get a little more cheerful as we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I’ve noticed we are still on this string of harsh criticism of one another. We single out that one that is outside of God’s will, or at least what we think is His will, and blast his or her behavior. We cry out for justice or more likely for revenge. But we don’t do anything to try to bring them back into a relationship with God.

Isn’t that what we are supposed to be doing, though? Aren’t we supposed to be sharing God’s love and grace? Aren’t we supposed to be extending His mercy and teaching others what it means to love each other rather than hating each other? We don’t seem to do that very well these days, though. We criticize and complain and condemn rather than try to bring others into the kingdom by sharing the message Jesus gave us to share with the world.

If all heaven rejoices at the recovery of just one sinner, then shouldn’t we be working hard to find those lost souls and introduce them to the One who can bring them back into the fold? Shouldn’t we be finding ways to befriend the lost so that they will listen to the message rather than ranting and raving against them so that they immediately feel ostracized from us?

I think Jesus wants us to pattern our lives after His. His great commission was to teach others His practices. If you look at one of the reasons the temple leaders condemned Him, it was because He associated with sinners. He ate with prostitutes and tax collectors. He talked with people the Pharisees and scribes felt were below their status and should be avoided. So if that was jesus’ practice, isn’t that what we should be doing?

That doesn’t mean we take up their habits. He never did. He never sinned, remember. He kept Himself pure in an evil world. But He associated with the lowest of the low so He could share with them the message of hope He brought to the world. Jesus didn’t care what social status someone had or the crimes they committed or what other people thought about them. He just shared the message of redemption. He shared forgiveness. And with ever person who accepted His message, heaven erupted in joyous praise.

So why have we forgotten that message? Why do we let little meaningless things get in the way of showing God’s love to those who need it most? Instead, we have a tendency to first complain, criticize, and condemn. The world needs more love and laughter. We need more Christians to extend the hand of friendship to those who do not know Christ. How else can we share the message? We certainly can’t expect sinners to listen to a message filled with hate and condemnation, can we? That generates a fight for flight response. We don’t want that. We want them to know our Jesus. Only a friend can share that message. Jesus knew that. That’s why He ate with and talked with and worked with those that needed Him most.

So today as you go about your daily routine, who in the circle of people you meet do you need to reach out to improve your relationship? Who needs to become more than just someone you see and change into someone that needs a friend, you? Who do you know that needs to know your Jesus? The only way you can introduce Him is to get to the point in your relationship that he or she will trust you enough to know you genuinely care about their eternity. Only friends do that. Does that compromise your purity? It didn’t for Jesus. He didn’t change His behavior. He just made friends wherever He went. It’s one of His practices we need to improve upon.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.