Friendship Sunday -November 22,2009

Pastor: Phillip G. Goudeaux
November 22, 2009
“The Year of God’s Great Abundance of Grace”
“Friendship Sunday”

Proverb 18:24 John 11:5, 35 - 36 Ecclesiastes 4:9-10



• A friend that sticks closer than a brother happens when - You come into covenant relationship with that person

• Five different levels of friendship

• Friends, they are your friends – But you have no relationship with them

• Highest = Covenant - Lowest = casual acquaintance

• Twenty-five percent of Americans have no one to confide in - No relationships

• There has been a thirty-five percent decrease in friendships in last five years

• Most people are too busy – They do not want to go out their way anymore

• Fifty-five percent of Americans say they have no one they can trust

• That is a miserable life – You got to have somebody to have a relationship with that you can trust

• You have to take time – Just like “Build a bear” – Build a friend

• If you are a hermit right now, and you want to just live long - Get a friend - Some one you can confide in that can help you to live long

• Friendships have been attacked – The world fights hard against friendships

• We have all had difficulty in relationships - That is a big issue

• Some people can not bounce back after a difficult situation

• Why do we have difficulty in developing healthy relationships?

• Because of our perception – How we perceive people

• Our expectation for people might be too high

• Some enter relationships with the wrong motives

• Some put people into a box – When the box gets rocked – They say good-bye

• We are suppose to be disciples of Christ – Jesus built relationships

• Everywhere He went – He had friendships

• When Jesus heard that Lazarus had died – He wept

• Jesus had relationship with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus – They were friends

• Jesus saw the value of building friendships – Even though He knew His time on earth was short – He knew that you still have to make time for friendships

• It is easy for us to get secluded or make up reason why we have no time for friendships – Building relationships are tough

• Relationships – Friendships – Are very important to you - If it does nothing except make you live longer – Some of you want to live longer

• The enemy wants to make it more easier to walk away from relationships than to stay in one – It takes time to be able to get into relationships

• Relationships don’t just happen – We have to build them

• In every relationship – There are some challenges

• 101 Principle – You’ll find one percent of something wrong with a person

• Most relationships are broken up over one percent of something

• Focus on finding something good about a person – Then put one hundred percent towards that good

• Expand your borders by building more relationships – That is what G-12 is about

• Relationships takes – Time –Effort -Sacrifice