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"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you".. John 15:13-15. KJV.

As you look through the old time hymnals, (I love them old hymns) notice how often writers referred to the blessings of God's friendship. Oh yes, it is a blessing to have human friends who enrich our lives..Isn't it great to have all these friends on the puter? friends that we can share our good times and yes, the bad times and know that they are standing with us in the sunshine and the storms.. I have made many wonderful friends in cyber world, friends that i have never met and probably won't meet till we meet in Heaven..Proverbs 18:24 says," there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
friendship on a human level is wonderful, but what about friendship with God? what a blessing it is to have the Creator and the Keeper of the universe as a friend..Although He is worshipped by countless hosts in heaven, He still has time to be our friend..He wants us to pray that we might fellowship with Him..
Are we forgetting that He is the greatest friend of all friends? today let's show our thanks and our love to him by prayer and the reading of his word.. you know friends here on earth sometimes come and go but when you spend time with God, you have a forever friendship..

as i was typing this one of my favorite old time hymns came to mind..may i share it with you?



What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and grief's to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged�
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge�
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He�ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer�
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.



May the words of that song be a blessing to you today.

Amen, Brother.

There is a hymn in our hymnal called just that -- Friendship with Jesus, and the chorus goes:

Friendship with Jesus
Fellowship divine
Oh what blessed sweet communion
Jesus is a friend of mine.

Motorman and shootist,thanks for the posts and the hymns.What a friend, is also one of my favourite hymns.Though I have not seen the last(4th) verse you posted.

i love both them hymns, my brothers.
and thanks, mm, for the reminder of what real friendship is ...

Wonderful songs of testimony and exhortation!
What think you of verse 14-15?
In this day and then, what has our Lord commanded that we do?
What else does he command us by the Word so we will be accounted as His friend? jim
___________________________________________________________

John 15:8

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.


Jhn 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.


Jhn 15:9 � As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.


Jhn 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.


Jhn 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.


Jhn 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.


Jhn 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.


Jhn 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.


Jhn 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.


Jhn 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.


Jhn 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.


Jhn 15:18 � If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you.


Jhn 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.


Jhn 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.


Jhn 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

JESUS! The best and greatest friend anyone can have!

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!

"What a friend --------- " was Harry Truman's favorite hymn .

jim in Oregon,



I hope the following helps.

"If any one thinks he iS a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the Things Which I write to you are the Lord's commandment." 1 Corinthians 14:37

All we have to do to be the friend the of Jesus is do What Apostle Paul writes.

As soon as I get real good at doing what Jesus said [ as Jim posted ] I'll start on "Paul's commandments".

It's apt to be a while !

Even Moses had some pretty good principles to live by.

Like the poem Ken wrote ; "I ain't made no graven image yet" !

I'm still working on them main two Jesus mentioned . I leave it up to you , preacher : assuming I get them two down pat in this lifetime , do I take up Paul's or Moses' next ? Moses makes it a lot plainer .

Yep. it's apt!

Jesus tells us what: Love, not law. Paul tells us how: through our Spirits and not our flesh. Both are needed as they are parts of a whole. The Bible is not to be parsed but to be consumed in it's entirety. Enjoy the complete feast.

Grace rules, gene. Grace saves. Grace constrains us to live right. "Commandments" help us in the here and now. Keeping the ten commandments makes you a better neighbour, but does not make you a Christian. Receiving God's grace makes us Christians.

Paul tells us we are to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not to be entangled again with a yoke of bondage - the law - and in the same context (Gal 5) he tells us not to use our liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love to serve one another. (Gal 5:1, 13)

I'm with RickyD in principle on this one. We need the "full meal deal" not just selected excerpts. Not murdering people makes you a good citizen; not stealing makes you a good citizen; not messing with your neighbours wife makes your neighbour happy to have you as a neighbour. Paul just puts the law in context. He doesn't tell us not to apply the principles of the law in our lives, he just tells us to make sure that grace rules in our hearts.

Paul is very practical in his theology. And he is called the Apostle of Grace. We live in the age of grace. Paul said this about the law -- Romans 7:12 "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." 1Tim 1:8 "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;" In the context in Timothy, he says that the law is for sinners and gives a list of wickedness. It points out or defines sin.

We need Moses to lead us to Christ. The law was our schoolmaster to lead us unto Christ.

We need Christ to save our souls. For the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

We need Paul to balance our lives of liberty with the principles of the entire Bible. He told Timothy that all scripture was given by inspiration of God and that it was profitable to throughly furnish a man in this life. The Bible must be rightly divided, and Paul told us that, too. The Bible is profitable for four things according to 2 Tim 3:16, 17 -- doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. The trick comes in dividing what is doctrinal for our day and age from what is good principles of correction, reproof and instruction in righteousness. Ain't much of a stretch when you devote your life to the Lord. He really wants you to know, and he sent the Holy Ghost to lead and guide into all truth.

But I have taken a lot longer to say fundamentally what RickyD said in a lot shorter post. OOOOPS!

In many ways I am sorry to say that I do what Paul says.

Romans 7:

"15: For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16: If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17: Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19: For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20: Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21: I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22: For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24: O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. "


But one day there shall be the return of my body from under the curse. One day He shall bring that which He has promised and my body shall see the salvation that my soul already knows. One day, as Job stated, with my own eye, righteous and without sin, I shall see God.

Oh, what a day that shall be!

I've come to believe that Paul's dissertation there in Romans is the best explanation of human nature to be found in the bible .I know some folks twist it to try and escape responsibility for their own actions - the devil made me do it - but I see it as showing the futility of a life lived by human power alone .

Yep , ain't nothing wrong with Moses' " principles " except I can't do 'em . I can't do 'em because when it gets down to the nut-cuttin', I don't WANT to . Paul tells me WHY I don't want to .

Hmffff! Too much agreement around here. We need something controversial to talk about.

Read AGAIN our exhortations as we abide In Christ.
Hundreds of plain scriptures which exhort us to make no provision for the flesh( old man) to fulfill those old lusts nor as dogs, return to vomit or as pigs washed, to the mire of sin and weakness..

There is no need to be shackled to the flesh,(carnal man) for those who have understood and obediently followed Christ by FAITH thru His death and now into His LIFE..

Read 1st Thessalonians 5:23-24..

Christ is our enablement for body, mind, and spirit so we walk IN Him by faith and so, sanctified by that obedient faith, abstain from even the appearance of evil and certainly any evil.
We have no debt to still live in the flesh in dichotomy and doublemindeness, but in all ways, body, mind and spirit, allow this new life of Christ to permeate us totally.

Our flesh is no longer the enemy which would hold us back from full service in Christ...UNLESS WE CHOOSE TO GO BACK OR HAVE FAILED BY FAITH TO UNDERSTAND AND FOLLOW CHRIST.

The old man is crucified and dead-buried with Christ and we are raised in newness of life.Christ's Life in US..
THAT IS THE PLAN AND PATTERN.

ALL by the grace of God..

It is by that grace we are saved, but THROUGH our obedient 'reckoning' faith.

God's grace alone saves no man..for it is offered to whosoever will..'
It is through faith, the hearing and obedient doing( all the enablement is given freely for this) that any person escapes this world and death and is transformed into His Life.

Settle for nothing less than Christ in you in all ways for that is our hope of glory and the means by which we are not only His friends, but can do even greater works( by reason of the numbers in His Body and faith) than even He did as we pass thru this life on earth.jim

Okay, I take it back.

Keith, you cracked me up!

I didn't think it would take long, though.

Well, I'm looking forward to that day anyway. Even though Jim and I don't say things the same way many times, we will see things alike then.

Oh what a day THAT will be!

jim in Oregon,

You are in trouble now! Why? Because I agree completely with your post. What is this world comming to?