God Made Friends!

God made friends (Dedicated to real friends Rick, Sharon and JP)

A friend is someone who thinks you’re a good egg, even though you’re a little cracked.

One who multiplies joys, divides grief.

-One who understands our silence.

-A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world is gone out.

-In order to have friends you must be a friend. (Proverbs 18:24 KJV)

-A true friendship wants nothing for itself.

Examples:

-Moses was a friend of God. (GOD SPOKE TO MOSES A MAN SPEAKS TO HIS FRIEND)

-Jonathan and King David

-The crippled man that was lowered to Jesus through a roof.

-Jesus is the greatest example of a friend

(John 15:13), "There is no greater gift that anyone can give that a man would lay down his life for another".

Why did the Lord give us friends?

We need someone on our side in times of trouble. "A friend sticks closer than a brother"

Let me read to you; A Story of friendship

Out of the furnaces of war come many true stories of sacrificial friendship. One such story tells of two friends in World War I, who were inseparable. They had enlisted together, trained together, were shipped overseas together and fought side-by-side in the trenches. During an attack, one of the men was critically wounded in a field filled with barbed wire obstacles, and he was unable to crawl back to his foxhole. The entire area was under a withering enemy crossfire, and it was suicidal to try to reach him. Yet his friend decided to try. Before he could get out of his own trench, he sergeant yanked him back inside and ordered him not to go. "It’s too late. You can’t do him any good and you’ll only get yourself killed."

A few minutes later, the officer turned his back, and instantly the man was gone after his friend. A few minutes later, he staggered back, mortally wounded, with his friend, now dead, in his arms. The sergeant was both angry and deeply moved. "What a waste," he blurted out. "He’s dead and you’re dying. It just wasn’t worth it."

With almost his last breath, the dying man replied, "Oh, yes, it was, Sarge. When I got to him, the only thing he said was, ’I knew you’d come, Jim!"

One of the true marks of a friend is that he is there when there is every reason for him not to be, when to be there is sacrificially costly.

Realize that no one can be a country all by himself or herself.

We need others to share our victories and struggles with.

*Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 says this: "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down his friend can pick him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

Realize that burdens become lighter when you have others to share them with. Victories have more significance when there is someone to celebrate with.

He knew others around you would need a friend as well.

*Proverbs 18:24 says: "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer that a brother".

- Friendship goes two ways.

He knew others may abandon you but a real friend would never leave you.

*Proverbs 17:17 says: "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity."

-A real friend will always tell you the truth even when it hurts.

5. True friends help us spiritually

*Proverbs 27:17 – "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

We need forgiveness

-Others may remember all your faults but friends forgive

A story tells that two friends were walking through a desert.

During some point in the journey, they had an argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE".

They kept walking until they found an oasis where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: ’TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write on a stone, why?"

He replied, "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away, but when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone, where no wind can ever erase it. Contributed by: Bobby McDaniel