Bethany Community ChurchMarch 4, 2018

Review:

Christmas Eve: Jesus is the only trustworthy cure for our loneliness.

Week 1: We have been created for connection, but our rebellion has estranged us from those we love. God will restore us through trusting obedience.

Week 2: As we seek to build intimate friendships, we can turn to Jesus with an expectation that He will pour out His love, wisdom, and strength.

Week 3: Oneness in marriage is a picture of the unity of Christ and his church.

Week 4: To experience intimate friendships, we must give up our demands and be willing to serve and be served.

Week 5: When we have been hurt or offended, we can demonstrate trusting obedience when we forgive as we have been forgiven.

Week 6: In every marriage, sin damages every heart (and the pain is often immeasurable). But when a couple experiences God’s grace through trusting obedience, even the worst relationship can be restored.

Week 7: Men and women are impacted in profound ways by love and respect.

Today’s text

Proverbs 17:17 (NIV84)

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

1. A friend loves at all times … See alsoProverbs 27:6

Galatians 6:2 (NASB95)

2Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Proverbs 27:10 (NLT)

10Never abandon a friend— either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

Intimate friends are with you – even when it is inconvenient, uncomfortable, unpopular, or costly to do so.

2. And a brother is born for adversity.See also Job 12:4, Ps 41:7-9

Proverbs 16:28 (NASB95)

28A perverse man spreads strife,And a slanderer separates intimate friends.

Proverbs 17:9 (NIV84)

9He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

Intimate friends will engage in the spiritual battle for the heart of those they love. … False friends join in with the voice of the accuser.

Psalm 15:1–3 (NASB95)

1O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?Who may dwell on Your holy hill?2He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,And speaks truth in his heart.3He does not slander with his tongue,Nor does evil to his neighbor,Nor takes up a reproach against his friend …

Hebrews 3:13 (NIV84) See also 1 Samuel 18:3 and 2 Timothy 4:9-11

13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Revelation 12:10 (NIV84)

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”

Summary:

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV84)

24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Communion preparation:

What kind of friend have I been to my friends?

Next Week:The cross – preparing our hearts for Easter.