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
Someone has said that the Christian army is the only army that shoots its wounded. Is there anything better than a friend that comes to you when the rest of the world is ready to kick you down and says, "O.K. you really messed up but I am here to help you back on your feet." The only thing worse than falling down is not getting back up and going again.
Success is getting up one more time than you have fallen down.
VI. A TRUE FRIEND WALKS WITH YOU IN TIME OF TROUBLE.
Yea, though I walk - - thou are with me.
The example of the good Samaritian.
VII. A TRUE FRIEND IS ONE WHO COMFORTS YOU.
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
a. It does not say, "Thy rod and thy staff they criticize me"
b. Example of dogs. Non judgemental
c. Remember that the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. He is the parakletos "the one called to stand along side of us". To be on our side.
JACKIE ROBINSON was the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced hostile crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in his home stadium of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to jeer him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the crowd booed. Then, without saying a word, shortstop Pee Wee Reese went over and stood next to Jackie. He put his arm around him and faced the crowd. Suddenly the fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that that arm around his shoulder saved his career.
8. A TRUE FREIND STAND WITH YOU WHEN OTHERS TRUN AGAINST YOU.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
A friend is one who shows mercy.
Two friends were walking in the forest one day when suddenly they stumbled upon a large grizzly bear who decided that they looked like a good snack. The two started running away when all of the sudden one of them stopped. The other said, "What are you stopping for? Don’t you know the grizzly bear is right behind us?" His friend replied, "I am tying my shoe so I can run faster." At this he couldn’t help but laugh, "What you think you’ll outrun the grizzly?" The friend replied, "I don’t have to outrun the grizzly, I only have to outrun you."
9. A TRUE FRIEND IS ONE WITH WHOM YOU WILL WANT TO SPEND ETERNITY.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
That is the reason that your friend who invited you here today wants you to know that they want to spend eternity with you.
INVITATION:
