JESUS IS MY BEST FRIEND

Video Links To This Sermon

Jesus Is My Best Friend - Part One

Jesus Is My Best Friend - Part Two
JESUS IS MY BEST FRIEND - PART THREE

JESUS IS MY BEST FRIEND

By Pastor Mark Taylor

“And the Lord had replied to Moses, “Yes, I will do what you have asked, for you have certainly found favor with me, and you are my friend.” (Exodus 33:17- Living Bible)

God wants you to have a best friend.  And that best friend is His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ.  He wants to be your best friend and give you His friendship and bless your life.
He wants to be your best friend and give you His friendship and bless your life.

There have been times in my life when I needed a friend.  I needed someone to love me and accept me for who I was and where I was at that point in my life.  I found that friend in Jesus.  There is a Gospel song who's lyrics say:  

I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, 
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true.
I would tell you how
He changed my life completely; 
He did something no other friend could do.

No one ever cared for me like Jesus; 
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin
And darkness from me; 
O how much He cared for me.

It is only when we know God personally that we can expect to be called His own and receive what He has in store for us.  “Let me live in your favor” was a request from Moses to God.  Once we know God’s ways and know God personally, than the favor of God can and will rest, in and on our lives.  Gods goodness and mercy will follow you, Psalms 23 says "surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life!”

While Moses was spending time with God getting the Ten Commandments and getting instructions on how to worship God. the children of Israel were at the bottom of the mountain worshiping idols.  God told Moses that He would destroy all of them because of their rebellion and sin and give him a new group of people to lead into the promised land.  But Moses asked God to have mercy and He did.  Our Lord Jesus has asked our Heavenly Father to have mercy on us and continue to lead us into our promised land called Heaven.  “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (I John 2:1 - NKJV).

In Exodus 33 verses 1 to 6 we learn that God will send the Israelites off to the Promised Land with an angel instead of going with them. We find that the Lord says that He wouldn’t be with them because of the hardness of their heart.  But again Moses prays to God and asks Him to go with them.  

“For Moses had said, “If you aren’t going with us, don’t let us move a step from this place. If you don’t go with us, who will ever know that I and my people have found favor with you, and that we are different from any other people upon the face of the earth?”  And the Lord had replied to Moses, “Yes, I will do what you have asked, for you have certainly found favor with me, and you are my friend.” (v. 15-17 - Living Bible).

God makes a distinction between His people and the rest of the world by showing His pleasure through His divine presence.  He is with us even when we do not feel His presence.

We are created for relationship. God reaches down to us and looks for us. He came eventually, revealing Himself in Jesus. He moves in our direction, and speaks our language. Before we even took a step towards Him, God takes a giant step and moves towards us. He took our form and became a man, so that He can relate to us.

God wants us to be His friend. Not just an acquaintance. Not just one of our fans. Not just part of the crowd, but our friend. If you want to be a friend of God, you need to be a friend to God and get to know Him, up close and personnel.

Friends talk with each other and spend time with each other.  “My sheep (Friends) hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28).  We must both speak to God in prayer and listen to Him through His precious Word - The Bible.  I know it is hard to speak to someone you cannot see.  But Jesus is with you and He can hear you.  He can speak to you through His precious Word - The Bible.  He can hear you sing praises to His name through praise songs and traditional hymns.

Friends do things for each other and with each other.  We must open up to Him, learn to tell him everything, be willing to do what He asks, be concerned about the things He is concerned about, and make friendship with Him our top priority.  "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 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.”  (John 15:14-15).  

We obey because we love Him and know He has our best interests at heart. The closer we follow Him the stronger our friendship becomes.  Non-Christians think we obey because we have to, or because we are overcome with guilt if we don’t, or because we are afraid of some celestial punishment. We know, however, we obey because of love.

We are asked to love others, help the needy, live a Godly life, forgive when we don’t want to or feel like it, and lead others to Him.  The closer we get to God, the more we will Care about what He cares about; Grieve over what he grieves over; Rejoice over what brings Him pleasure.  To be a friend of God, we must care about all the people around us God cares about.  “Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day.”

Friends are proud of each other and their friendship. Friends of God tell their friends about God.  “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38).  Let us share with each other and with others “What a Friend We Have In Jesus”.

Jesus is my BFF - Best Friend Forever.  He is inviting you to share that same relationship with Him.  Jesus is a Friend who “ sticks closer than a brother."

ONE THANKFUL MAN

One Thankful Man

By Pastor Mark Taylor

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go your way: your faith has made you whole” (Luke 17:17-19).

Giving thanks and the word thanksgiving are mentioned over 140 times in the Bible.  All the people used by God in the Bible had the “attitude of gratitude”.  David said: “Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Psalms 103:1-2).  Daniel gave thanks: “Daniel went to his house. And his windows were open in his roof room toward Jerusalem; and he kneeled on his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before” (Daniel 6:10).  Paul tells us: “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

You do not have to wait until a special day like "Thanksgiving" to be thankful.  You do not even have to wait until Sunday when you go to church to be thankful.  You should be thankful everyday and every time God does something special for you.  You should be thankful for the things He has already done for you.  God loves to hear appreciative prayers of thanks from His children.

In this recorded event, Jesus stopped to help 10 seriously ill people even though He had been on a long journey and was probably very tired.  Leprosy was a disease which the Jews thought was a punishment for some particular sin.  Disease and sickness are not always related to sin, but Christ came to take away sin and demonstrated that He has power over sin and disease.  Our physical bodies are not made to last forever on this Earth.  Children of God will receive a resurrected body that will last forever and we will live with God forever: “And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there will be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying out, nor will there be any more pain; for the first things passed away. And He sitting on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:3-5).

The ten did not ask for a cure for the leprosy, but cried out “Have mercy on us”.  Sometimes we don’t know what to pray for: “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

“And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”(Luke 17:14)  When you ask the Lord to help you, He will usually ask you to do something to demonstrate your faith. 

The “One Thankful Man”, took the time to return to Jesus to thank Him.  He started out standing “afar off”, but now he was on “his face at His feet, giving Him thanks”.  He started out asking for mercy, and now he glorified God with a “loud voice”.

Those who have received mercy from God should publish it it others.  Their praise to God may encourage others and lead them to trust Christ.

 Jesus took notice of the grateful return the “One Thankful Man” made.  He also took notice of the ingratitude of those that were sharers of the mercy that did not return to give thanks.

“Where are the nine?”  Of the many that receive mercy from God, there are very few (one in ten) that return to give thanks.

Today, thank our Lord and Savior for the many times He has had mercy on you.  If you are a child of God you have much to be thankful for.  You have Heaven to look forward to.  Jesus told the “One Thankful Man” that his faith had made him whole.

He not only received a physical healing, but a spiritual healing.

He not only received a higher quality of life on earth, but he received “Eternal Life”.  Be one of the 10% that Loves God enough to give thanks to Him today!!!!

“To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever” (Psalms 30:12).

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto Your name, O most High” (Psalms 92:1).

“Praise you the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures for ever” (Psalms 106:1).

“By Him, then, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15).