Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Is God Our Friend? (LS11)

       'Last sermon of Jesus'

John 14:7-9  "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

Jam 2:23  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
    Abraham and Moses were friends of God, for they believed Him and obeyed all His commands.

Gen 18:17,23-24  And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,'.. And Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?"
    Abraham and Moses both talk to God as friends, and they even negotiated with God as they made their journeys to the promised land.

John 15:14-15  "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."
    When we obey Jesus' commands, we become His friends, then He will reveal God's will, plan, work and truth to us, and we will no longer be fearful or in darkness.

John 15:7  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."
    Brethren, as God's friends (if we obey His word), we have the privilege to talk to Him anytime, anywhere and anyhow or when His Holy Spirit impresses on us to intercede. He will always grant our requests because we ask only for good and helpful things such as wisdom, knowledge of God, truth, love for one another, peace, the Holy Spirit, riches in Christ Jesus, needs, and not the things of the world, which will lead us to covetousness, jealousy, carnality, pride, worldliness. Without repentance, our worldly desires will silently but surely destroy us.
John 16:24  "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."

Mat 7:11  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
   Brethren, when we pray in secret in our rooms, let us always worship our heavenly Father, the Almighty God, by bowing down to Him, for He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.