A FRIEND WORTH HAVING
John 15:16
Suppose you could choose between two people to have dinner with one was warm, caring, genuinely interested in you, listens well, and is fun to be with, you want your friendship to last forever
The other is aloof, distant, self-absorbed, and demanding. The only time he calls is when he wants something. He is unpredictable and fickle. He has a lot of power and wealth but if it were not for that power he probably would not have any friends.
Who would you chose?
Which one is most like God in your mind?
Unfortunately, most people have the second view of God.... a distorted view.
To them God is uncaring, distant, very powerful but can't be counted on, and the only real reason to have friendship with Him is for the occasional answers to prayer.
But God is really like the first person... He is warm, caring, genuinely interested in you, listens well, and is fun to be with.
The truth is, and what I want us to see is..... God is a friend worth having.
I want you to see today....
The necessary ingredients for a relationship with God
The reasons we can have a relationship with God
What God has done to establish the relationship
The benefits of a relationship with God
Perhaps I should dangle a carrot to keep your attention...
THE BENEFITS OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
1. RELATIONSHIPS
All kinds of relationships.... marriage, friendships, family, can all be strengthened and put back together when we have a right relationship with God
Relationships are demanding and often difficult to maintain.
They call for patience, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Where do we get those things????? Galatians 5:22-23.... Fruit of the Spirit
Where do we get the Spirit..... relationship with God.
So that one of the big benefits of a relationship with God is improved relationships with others.
2.PURPOSE
Life without Christ is a life without purpose.
It may have a cause, but most just have an agenda... a list of events or activities that fill the hours of the day... but no purpose.
There is no "Big Picture" no over-arching goal or direction for the things we do.
Life is lived piece-meal.. .. helter-skelter.... a bunch of unrelated, unintentional acts.
What we need is a purpose... a larger goal that affects all we do and everything we do is working towards that goal.
The things we do will have meaning, we will know why we are doing them... they are accomplishing something and taking us some place.
With Christ, our lives come under the direction and guidance of the all-loving, all-knowing Holy Spirit. He always has our best interest in mind and constantly leads us with an eye on the big picture... the will of God.
Everything we do has purpose... becoming Christ-like.
FULFILLMENT
Having that purpose in life and seeing our progress and our change gives us great satisfaction and fulfillment.
Then we can understand what Paul meant when he said "It is not I that worketh but Christ working within me."
Seeing progress encourages us to go on further.
Even hard times do not diminish our joy because we begin to see as Paul did that "even this is being used of God to grow me"
The next two are very important
hundreds of thousands of women and children remain in abusive relationships because they lack these two.....
CONFIDENCE
1 John 4:18 says, "Perfect love casts our all fear."
When we have a relationship with Christ we have no need for...
fear of punishment because Christ already took that
fear of failure because "If God is for us, who can be against us?" fear of intimidation Christ is stronger than our enemies
fear ofloss the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills
fear of rejection even if all others do-- He will never leave us nor forsake us
Battered women and abused persons in general often remain in abusive relationships because they lack the confidence to break out... NEW!!!
SELF-ESTEEM
Very few people in this world see themselves as they really are... instead... they see themselves as they think significant others see them.
If those around us constantly put us down, constantly belittle us, constantly find fault with us... we will have low self esteem.
When we establish a relationship with Christ and when He comes to be a significant other to us, we will begin to see ourselves as he does..... His child, one He loves eternally, valuable
{sent His Son}, capable of great change, capable of great things.
We come to see ourselves a precious to Him.... of exceeding great value
In fact, we are going to close later by singing 448 and changing the words to "I am so precious to Him."
Is. 49:16 God says, "See, I have engraved you on the palm of my hand."
These are the benefits of a relationship with God, now let’s see what are the
NECESSARY INGREDIENTS
Well, what are the necessary ingredients for building any relationship?
DESIRE, TIME, mutual interest, communication, sharing
What are the necessary ingredients for building a relationship with God???
DESIRE, TIME, mutual interest, communication, sharing
God has already done what is necessary from His side....
HE GAVE US HIS SON
Perfect picture of what God was like.
The "Goel" to pay our price and buy us back
Take away the sin/wall/distance between us and God
HE GAVE US HIS BOOK
Trying to navigate the straight and narrow path without the Word is like trying to negotiate a mine field without a mine detector.
It is like trying to navigate the seas without a compass.
ONLY AN IDIOT!!!
Without the book we don't have the perfect picture that Jesus painted for us of God
We are left to make our own pictures
HE GAVE US HIS SPIRIT
Without the Spirit we are like the man who complained to the radio station that he could not hear the music. So they built a bigger transmitter. Still he could not hear the music. So they built a taller tower... still no music. They tried one more time... doubling their broadcast power... all the F.C.C. would allow. But still the man could not hear the music. The president of the radio station wrote to the man and said, "I am sending a technician to your house to examine your radio."
The man replied, "What radio?"
Hebrews 1:1-4 says in the past God built a transmitter {prophets} but we did not hear the music. So he increased the tower {angels} and still we did not hear the music. So he built a larger transmitter {people like Moses}... no music. So he redirected the signal {miracles} but no music. So finally he went all the way, state of the art, maximum power, ran the cable straight to our house... still no music.
THEN... God gave us a receiver.... the Spirit.
He is the receiver, translator, interpreter, speaker for God.
If we don't have the receiver {Spirit} it doesn't matter what God does with the transmitters... Son and Word.
Because we have the receiver, we can have a relationship, we can hear the music and dance the dance.
One last thing.... three things I want you to remember about a relationship with God
GOD HAS CHOSEN US
In John 15:16 Jesus says it... "You did not choose me, but I CHOSE YOU..."
He had a choice, he had the option.
He didn't have to love us, or speak to us, or save us. He did not need us.
He could have rejected us.
He chose us even though we were unworthy. not only did he choose us, but
HE WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH US
Jesus did not live in a day of fast food... {or fast anything}. The fastest thing in the world moved about 35 MPH. Fast food took several hours.
When company would drop in and the host would feed them... it took hours to kill the mean, prepare the meal, cook the meal, and eat the meal.
When Jesus said in Rev. 3:20 that he wants to "sup with you." it meant eat a• meal.
To eat meant to share intimately, to spend quality time, and to get to know you.
God wants that with us to share intimately
to spend quality time
to get to know you
to let you get to know Him
And finally....
HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US
you can't blow it so badly He won't have a bad day He won't get "fed-up"
He chose you when you were dirty, dirt won't run him off. He came into this relationship with His eyes wide open
INVITATION
What has God said to you today?
Has He shown you that this is exactly what you need?
I can tell you how to have it.
Want it
Ask for it
Get rid of blocks
work on it constantly
