07/10/2022 Church service

周日礼拜

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Is Jesus Your Friend?

John 15:9-17

“Birds of a feather flock together”

What does that mean?

We become like those we associate with. The person(s) we hand out with.

British television show. “My Irish housewife mother told me to only hang out with positive people. If you hang out with negative people, you will become negative, too.”

Our associations directly impact our way of thinking – which then impacts our way of living.

Our decisions. Our actions. Our lifestyles.

“Brains cells that fire together wire together”  Neural connections

If you observe people long enough you begin to pick up their patterns – you begin to learn how they will react or respond. They are wired for their behavior.

So often, people who watch soap operas live soap opera lives

I guess now they would mostly be called “reality shows”

Who are you spending your time with?

What influences - voices – what forces – are developing your mindset – your world view?

Global or Biblical Mindset

So, okay -  our chosen friendships are very important

It matters who you spend your precious time with

Psalm 63:8 - With passion I pursue and cling to you. Because I feel your grip on my life, I keep my soul close to your heart.

Jonathan Edwards was an American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and theologian. Edwards is widely regarded as one of America's most important and original philosophical theologians. He was also part of the great 18^th century revival known as the “Great Awakening.”

“Let it be [our] first love to enter into an everlasting friendship with Christ that never shall be broken”

John 15:14: You are my friends if you do what I command.

vs 12: This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

We live in a world where celebrity is idolized. People obsess over famous people.

I remember of video clip of a man who had camped out in front of John Lennon’s house for a time.

Finally, John went out and told him he had to leave the premises.

The man was shocked, believing that surely the two of them would have instantly bonded and become great pals.

Limelight/Rush: “I can’t pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend.”

Just because we know about someone doesn’t mean they actually know them

Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

In Jesus’ words about Judgment Day, a person can seem like a Christian in the eyes of other people, yet still be an “evildoer” in God’s sight and sent away from His presence (verse 23).

Only those who do the Father’s will and who are known of God will enter heaven.

So, what is the Father’s will? Some men came to Jesus once with a question about what God required of them: “They asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’

 Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’”

 (John 6:28–29).

God wants us to have faith in His Son: “This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:23).

You have heard those words, “A personal relationship with Jesus Christ”

 – but does it strike your heart as something you truly experience in your daily life?

(of course, there is so much more to be said than we can cover today)

A personal relationship with Jesus –

not just an affiliation with a church or a religious organization

Those horrifying words that Jesus shared in Matthew 7, ‘I never knew you” should cause us to re-examine our lives without any delay.

The people he was using as an example tried to defend themselves by their works.

vs 22: Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’

Our salvation is a gift of God – not of works.

Do you see what an amazing change knowing and believing right about God (and how He deals with us today) can bring?

Heb 6:1  calls “repentance from dead works” as part of the elementary teachings about Christ.

God does not want you in dead works—depending on your own efforts to please Him and qualify for His blessings.

God wants you having and operating out of a personal and loving relationship with Him, not out of a sense of religious obligation.

Today, realize that God’s Word exhorts us to repent (change our minds) from dead works and believe the gospel.

Mark 1:15 - “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.”

“The right time is now here. God’s kingdom is very near. Change your hearts and lives, and believe the Good News!”

How do you do this?
See the cross. See how God loves you so much that He sent Jesus, who came down to where you were to bring you up to where He is—something no amount of your self-effort can ever do.

Romans 5:19: “through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

See Jesus’ obedience making you righteous, and praise Him for His marvelous grace!

Spurgeon: “None are truly Christ’s but those who persevere in grace.”

“Repent and believe the gospel.”

Repent from dead works and receive Jesus’ love gift of saving grace.

Gal 2:21 - I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Enjoy His wonderful presence today when you come to Him in prayer or read His Word. Let Him fill your heart, mind, and body with His grace, peace, wholeness, and life.

In our passage today, Jesus tells us to “remain in (His) love.” 
“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love”
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

It matters who we associate with.

? Do you NOW have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

We sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus” – but is it a reality in your life today?

Jonathan Edwards: “Whatsoever there is, or can be, that is desirable to be in a friend, is in Christ, and that to the highest degree that can be desired”

Hebrews 2:1 - We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 

Hebrews 2:3 - how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

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Hillside United Methodist Church
3739 US 80
Phenix City  AL  36870
United States
Pastor: Mike J Koger

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