What A Friend We Have In Jesus

Some will say:

• "I am going to be late for lunch because you preached so long."

• "You must not have had much time to prepare that sermon."

• "My former pastor preached a much better sermon from that text."

• "You acted like you weren't feeling well while you preached."

• "I'm sorry I fell asleep while you were preaching. Your voice just puts me to sleep."

• "Your subject/verb agreement was incorrect three times in your sermon."

• "Let me tell you what you missed in your sermon."

These are the things that preachers do not like to hear after a sermon.

But there is one more thing that he occasionally hears and that is, “I WISH ( ) HAD BEEN HERE TO HEAR THAT SERMON!”

Have you ever attended a church service and you heard a sermon that you wished a certain person was there to hear? I don't want you to do that this morning. I want you to take this sermon personally and ask yourself, "HOW DOES THIS SERMON APPLY TO ME?"

Why do I want you to apply this sermon to yourself? BECAUSE I AM PREACHING ON A VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC; I AM PREACHING ABOUT BECOMING LIKE CHRIST IN CARING FOR OTHERS.

Caring for others is something most people know very little about today. We see in times of crisis there are many generous souls who contribute muscle and money to help, but often in every day physical and spiritual needs, there are few who want to help.

For example-

(1) We have PARENTS who do not care about their children spiritually

• They will not teach them what the Bible teaches about Heaven and Hell.

• They will not faithfully bring them to church so they can hear the teaching and preaching of God’s Word.

For this reason we conclude these parents really do not CARE about the spiritual needs of their child.

(2) We have POLITICIANS who do not care about the citizens of this country

When they campaign for an office, they convince the citizens of this country that they care about them, but once they get into office, the only thing many of them care about is advancing themselves.

(3) We have DOCTORS who take an oath to care about our physical needs.

Often they prove to care more about the money they make. There are doctors today who will do surgery on a patient that does not even need surgery, for the almighty dollar.

(4) We have CHURCHES whose members do not care about their fellow church members.

People can be sick at home, and not a deacon or a member of the church will call them, or send a card. NOT ONE! They can be admitted to the hospital and not one person will visit them.

(5) We have FRIENDS that tell us they love us.

But, when we need them, they are full of excuses proving they really do not care about us at all.

Now I am not trying to be NEGATIVE in this sermon. I am NOT a NEGATIVE PASTOR, but it does us no good to bury our heads in the sand and pretend these things are not so.

We live in a, “DO NOT CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE” society. We recognize:

• People care about money

• People care about power

• People care about influence

• People care about themselves

• People care about sports

• People care about their race

• People care about their brand of religion

• People care about material things

BUT THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT US!

We live in a society where people do not CARE. I have mentioned a few of the ways we see that people do not care for others.

Listen, it is bad enough that PARENTS, POLITICIANS, DOCTORS, CHURCHES, and FRIENDS do not care about us - we can survive these things in our lives.

If it be true that GOD DOES NOT CARE ABOUT US, WE REALLY HAVE A PROBLEM! There are people alive today who BELIEVE THAT EVEN GOD DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THEM.

WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ABOUT HIS CARING FOR US? God’s Word tells us HE DOES CARE for us. 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for HE CARETH FOR YOU.”

This precious little verse tells us God wants us to CAST ALL OF OUR CARES UPON HIM, AND THEN HE TELLS US WHY WE ARE TO DO THIS - BECAUSE HE CARES FOR US.

Let me give an illustration that will help you to see what God means when He says HE CARES ABOUT US!

Illus: A youth minister was attending a Special Olympics where handicapped children competed with tremendous dedication and enthusiasm. One event was the 220 yard dash. Contestants lined up at the starting line, and at the signal, started running as fast as they could.