Sunday, 8 April 2018

Friend

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friend - Hushai the Archite was David's friend (2 Samuel 15:37) and there are many other examples of friends, but perhaps the most significant friend from the Hebrew Scriptures was Avraham, described as "G-d's friend" (Isaiah 41:8). A true friend, one who is "closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24), sticks to us and helps us even when the going gets rough. Yeshua is described as "a friend of tax collectors" (Matthew 11:19) and even addressed Judas as "friend" (Matthew 26:47). A friend is appealed to for bread in the middle of the night (Luke 11:5-8) and Lazarus is called Yeshua's friend while He is on the way to raise him from the dead (John 11:11). Luke is Paul's friend (Colossians 4:14), as is Philemon (Philemon 1:1) and a crowd of early church leaders and members (Romans 16). Yeshua said that "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). We are called Yeshua's friends if we do what He commands us (John 15:14). Finally, Yeshua tells the disciples that "I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). Do we know Yeshua as our friend?