Man's Best Friend: A Friend's Day Message

MAN’S BEST FRIEND: A Friend’s Day Message

PSALM 23

Today is our FRIEND DAY. Some of you are here because one of our member asked you to come and be their friend today. We welcome you and we are so thrilled that you chose to share this time with us.

I felt that my message today should be about friends. The 23rd Psalm is a wonderful Psalm about friendship. It talks about two aspects of Friendship – 1. How to be a friend and how to have a friend. One of my good friends told me one time. "A FRIEND IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE POSSESSIONS THAT WE CAN HAVE IN THIS LIFE SO, WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THEM". I guess one of the single greatest compliments that could be pay to anyone is for someone to consider them as a friend.

"WHO IS MAN’S BEST FRIEND?

It is not a cat!

It is not a Dog! Even though my Boston Terrier is truly one of the best friends I have.

IT IS THE LORD JESUS

I thought of a lot of Great Bible examples of true friendship.

David & Jonathan - Naomi & Ruth - Paul & Timothy

Jesus was a friend to all but even He had His special friends. Lazareth, Martha and Mary.

Then I thought - There is no greater example of a friend in the Word of God that the Lord Jesus - And the 23rd Psalm present the Lord Jesus as the Great Shepherd of our soul but it also gives us a true picture of a FRIEND.

Now it is true that every point of this message can be said about the Lord Jesus because He is the greatest friend a person can have but he is our example. So, this wonderful Psalm will give us a Portrait of true friendship .

T/S The 23rd Psalm teaches us "What it means to be a true friend"

I. A TRUE FRIEND IS ONE WHO LOOKS OUT FOR YOU.

The Lord is My Shepherd.

The relationship between a Shepherd and sheep is one of true love and friendship. Everyone else may think of the sheep as just a dumb, stupid and stinky but the shepherd think the sheep is something special

a. Someone has written - "A friend is someone who know you and love you anyway".

b. Prov. 17:17 says, "A friend is one who loves at all time". In the good time and the bad times. - When things are going right and when things seem they will never go right.

I read the story 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. He was unable to crawl back to his foxhole. The entire area was under enemy crossfire, and it was suicidal to try to reach him. Yet his friend decided to do just that. The sergeant told him, "It’s too late. You can’t do him any good, and you’ll only get yourself killed." But the man went anyway. He returned a few minutes later, carrying his friend. But he himself had been mortally wounded. The sergeant was both angry and deeply moved. He blurted out, "What a waste! 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, Sarg. When I got to him, the only thing he said was, ’I knew you’d come, Jim.’"

...

c. Jesus has to be the great example of this. At best humans will fail. But God loves us with an everlasting love.

II. A TRUE FRIEND WILL HELP FULFILL YOUR LIFE.

I shall not want. I don’t need a thing.{ The message}

a. I am not talking about material need all together. Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13)

b. Laying down you life means giving your time, effort, means to your firend.

III. A TRUE FRIEND WILL CALL YOU ON YOUR STUFF.

He maketh me . . .

Silence is golden but sometimes it is just plain yellow.

You are no friend if you see someone walking in darkness and heading for the cliff and you don’t warn them.

IV. A TRUE FRIEND WILL HELP YOU MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS IN LIFE.

He leadeth me . . .

A VERSE TO REMEMBER:

Prov 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.

V. A TRUE FRIEND IS ONE WHO HELPS YOU UP AFTER YOU STUMBLE AND FALL.

He restoreth my soul