10-31-2019

 Good Morning All,

   John 15:15; “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

    It is always funny to listen to people; especially when there is something interesting going on.  Someone has a cousin in the sheriff’s department while someone else has a brother who is on the county commission.  All of this will give us the “true, inside information”.  We can know the “real facts” because we know someone, you know, important.  It gets even better when we need something and we “know” someone who can make it easier or quicker or, best of all, cheaper.  We all like to know someone, or better, have a friend in a position of some authority that we can call on when we need a little extra help.

    Garth Brooks liked his friends in low places but most of us want a friend in a high place; a place of power and influence.  We want someone who can take the time and the effort to help us in some difficult or perplexing situation.  It might be as simple as a friend with a pickup truck to help us haul something to someone who understands some confusing zoning law or someone who can get us cheap seats on an airplane or an introduction to someone famous.   We like friends in high places.

    This is what we have in Jesus; we have a friend in the highest place of all, at God’s right hand.  We have an “in” as in we have someone who is pleading our case before God.  We have someone who is serving as our high priest, praying for us at all times.  We have a friend who understands our struggles, the everyday battles that wear us down and beat us up.  We have that friend, the one who always knows when we are sad or worried.  Yet this friend can actually do something about it.  He comes to us in His Word to give us hope.  He came to this world to give his life that we might have eternal life.  Now that is a true friend!

    This friend now is seated at the right hand of God and has been given the name to which every knee shall bow.  This greatest of all King of kings is our friend.  He wants us to succeed; he wants us to live with him and share with him in his eternal kingdom.  He has promised us this wonderful gift.  While we wait for this gift to come to completion, he gives us the peace to always know that He is with us; to defend us from the wiles and cunning of the devil.  Jesus offers us the hope of eternal Sabbath, a rest that restores and refreshes us; all this from a friend, and not just any friend, but from our greatest friend.  All of this we receive because of his great love for us. 

    Jesus came to give us life, hope, peace, comfort and love; this is the definition of what a friend will do for those whom he loves.  This is Jesus; this is your savior!

Gracious Lord Jesus, we thank you for being our friend.  We thank you for coming into this world to redeem us and bring us into your holy family.  Keep us ever safe in your arms and defend us we pray.  Be with those who are especially vulnerable at this time.  Give them your Holy Spirit to defend.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret