Redefining Friendship
Key Scriptures: Proverbs 12:26
The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Lesson One: It is impossible to have the right life when you have the wrong friends.
• The people who influence you the most must be committed followers of Christ
• When our spiritual roots grow deep, it enables our reach to be wide
1 Corinthians 15:33, Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.
Proverbs 22:24, Do not make friends with people who are easily angered, or you will become like them and endanger your soul.
As followers of Christ, we must embrace the tension of avoiding those who would lead us astray, while still going into all the world to shine our light for Jesus.
2 THINGS THAT WE CAN NEVER ALLOW OUR FRIENDS TO DO
Lesson Two: I will not let my friends distract me from God’s plan.
• Satan will use people to distract you from God’s plan for your life
Matthew 6:23, Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Lesson Three: I will not let my friends continually tempt me to sin.
• We need to separate ourselves from sinful influences
Genesis 39:7-12, Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
1 COMMITMENT WE MUST ALWAYS KEEP IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS
Lesson Four: I will always love people with the unconditional love of Christ.
• When we show unconditional love, we fulfill the greatest commandment
Matthew 22:36-39, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
John 13:34-35, A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another…