Sermon

The Apostle Paul said it best in I Corinthians 15 when he said that if Jesus wasn’t resurrected from the dead, than we are still dead in our sins, and that the world should pity us.  But since Jesus is resurrected from the dead, we can have new life and can experience a changed life. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection should make us more thankful, more zealous in advancing the kingdom, more careful to spot and fight off temptation, and be the most contented people on the planet.  

 

The blood of Jesus should also cause us to have the closest possible friendships with one another. Jesus prayed in John 17 for us to be one JUST AS he and his Father are one. In other words, he doesn’t want us to tolerate each other, or try to get along, have surface friendships, but to have the deepest possible friendships and relationships with one another. That is why next Sunday we will begin a new series called “Everyone Needs a Friend.”  Over the course of 12 weeks, we will explore friendships in the Bible and will find that there are types of friendships in the Bible that we all need in our lives...Everyone Needs a Nathan, Everyone Needs a Jonathan, Everyone Needs a Deborah, Everyone Needs a Timothy, etc…we will learn to identify what kind of friend WE are to others and what strengths and weaknesses God has given us.  Are you a Nathan? A Jonathan? A Paul? Do you have each of these people in your life? Mostly, we will see how each these biblical characters are shadows of Jesus, because above all, everyone needs a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Jesus is that friend and when we are close to Jesus, he shines through us in all of our friendships.