True Friendship| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on August 27th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

We heard many positive stories about friendship. But there can also be negative stories. This guy names Joy from Mumbai due to the company he kept, became a drug addict. He was sent to a rehabilitation centre. The day he came back from the rehab, he went to visit his so-called friends. His parents later on found him dead in a gutter because of drug- overdose. 

Choosing our friends is a matter of life and death. Today I want to share the wisdom of a man called Solomon. Proverbs speaks of a friend who sticks closer than a Brother.

Friendship is very unique. How can a friend be better than a sibling. 

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is there for adversity. The family might not be there for you for everything. You might be geographically. But a friend is there for all things. A friend sticks to you. We don’t choose our brothers and sisters. But a friend chooses you. So it is a unique relationship which cant be replaced by family relationships. Our friends can determine our destiny.

Young people think that what our peers think is more important than my parents.

Q. How do we get a right friend?

Friendship happens when we have a common cause, a common love, a purpose that both are committed to. When I was in school, I had a friend who’s mother would pack lovely sandwiches and at lunch time I would run to him. we had a common cause of eating well. You might have the common cause of environmental protection.

Friendship is not just for certain times, it is for all times. A friend is one, who when the whole world walks out on you, they are still with you. We don’t want to be fair-weather friends.

1.      Constancy

2.      Carefulness- Pro 26:18 – we have to careful and understand the emotional state of our friends. If my friend has just failed in a test and I say, lets go party, that’s inappropriate. We cant have too many friends, but a few friends whose happiness is your

3.      Truth-telling- Prov 27: 12-13 The enemy will give you kisses. They will be so sweet to you on your face, but the moment you turn away they’ll put a dagger in your back. You don’t want friends who flatter us. As a friend, you have to help your friends get in touch with reality because sometimes, people are not self-aware. That’s true friendship. We are willing to offend our friends and tell them the truth because no one else is doing that.

4.      Counsel- Pro 27:9 Are we willing to give good advice and help people on in our life? In our case.

There are 5 things to move our friendship level:

1.      Clichéd communication

2.      Facts

3.      Beliefs and opinions- I think GST is a good thing

4.      Feeling- I was upset with what happened today at the office. Or I am happy that something happened.

5.      Transparency- this is where you are sharing your dreams.

These are the things we need to do to be a good friend. The God of the Universe who made everything, he wants to be our friend. That’s the amazing story of the cross. Jesus paid the price on the cross for our sins to bring us into a right relationship with him. He died on the cross, rose from the dead and now he wants our hand in friendship. If you want to know more, come back next Sunday. 

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.