188: Andy Arnold - Exhortation: Friendship

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to Good Burger selfie and talks. I’m Levi and I’m Chris and I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one taco week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. We post a new episode of the start of each week with a short intro before. Hand to kind of set the stage for the talk. You’re about to listen to and now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

2. 0:50

   Welcome to the good. Chris it up and talks podcast. This is brother Brian. This week’s talk is an excitation by Brother Andy Arnold, which was given last August at the Burnside Ecclesia and South Australia and it was titled friendship. This one hits home for being a straightforward reminder, to put the time in and to work on our friendships, to go out of our way to think about those, that could use an extra boost or those that maybe we’ve lost touch with over the past couple of years.

3. 1:28

   Brother Andy points out how loaded scripture is with a diverse array of friendship examples and how the backbone of them. All is a self-sacrificing love One that’s best exemplified by our Lord and Master Jesus. The Christ. But even more, I found it to be just such a good motivator to make the effort to be a better friend especially in light of how damaging the pandemic has been on our ability to truly be closed with one another and to be able to keep tabs on how our faith is holding up.

4. 2:11

   I loved all of his call to action suggestions. For all the age groups that were represented in the audience, you’ll know it when you hear it and I think those same suggestions, they’re going to apply to any of you that are listening to this. So, from Lads Two, Dads, two, weary mom’s young people, and even small children.

5. 2:36

   I think I appreciate that even more, that he gave it a shout out to the little kids in the audience. The point being I think we can all benefit from a reminder and what it means to be a Godly friend and how critical these friendships can be in preventing heartache and the epidemic of loneliness. As always, we hope this strengthens your faith, hope that it strengthens your friendships work on your friendships and we hope this brightens your day. Brother, Andy, Arnold friendship. Oh, good morning everyone here.

6. 3:20

   And good morning everybody joining in on Zoom. I know some of you are in quarantine, after escaping wet, Adelaide to head over to Queensland so bad luck. But that’s what you get, but I hope you can all be back amongst us soon to some of the others may be tuning in. Maybe you aren’t well or you’re staying home to be safe or maybe you woke up today and you’re going through a tough time and you just couldn’t step out. That front door today, and that’s okay. I pray, we are all able to catch up again soon in one way or another.

7. 3:56

   And everyone else here as well. It’s good to see you. It’s good to see that you could make it here. And the best thing about Sunday mornings especially every week is it’s an hour where we can just come here and we can really out that door just and if you haven’t done it yet do it now just unburden yourselves and lay everything aside because we’re here this morning with our King, So the subject I had to just discuss with you this morning as we prepare to break bread and drink wine has been on my mind for a few years and I actually settled on it. Last time we visited Burnside this year and heard brother, Dave speak to us, the subject is friendship. You say Dave spoke so beautifully about God and Jesus is attitude towards anxiety and depression and near the end of his eggs or he touched on friendship and to steal some of his words.

8. 4:49

   He said, friendships mean a huge amount. Friendships are massive. In your life never ever underestimate. Friendship friendship often is what it will take to get you through life. In the situation of anxiety and depression and also loneliness, a friend, that just sits with you or lessons, can be a physical reminder that somebody loves you and that someone actually cares. Never abandon a friend.

9. 5:28

   Sometimes you’re all they’ve got. And Proverbs 17 verse 17. A friend is always loyal or a friend loves at all times. So this helped me to work on the words to try and deliver this message today as we meet around this table. So, why friendship? Well, it starts for me with this verse one of my favorite verses, which I actually spoke on last time I was here at Burnside when we spoke about Hope, and then I recently touched on it with Josh mr. Marshall today, when we did a podcast for young people with faith and so, I thought it’d be fitting to finish with the third word from this verse First Corinthians 13 verse 13. And now these three remain Five, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. I honestly believe that these three words summarize everything about our God and about his plan. From the beginning of the Bible to the end. But the greatest of these is love. Now, loving itself is a whole other subject that we could speak on for hours, but it’s these verses from our reading today that draw us into our subject this morning from John 15 as the father has loved me.

10. 7:02

    So have I Loved You Now remain in my love. If you keep my Commandments, you will remain in my love. Just as I have kept, my father’s commands and remain in his love. I’ve told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. And my command is this love each other. As I have loved you.

11. 7:33

    Greater love has no one than this to lay down, one’s life for one’s friends. And you are my friends. If you do what I command, I no longer call you servants because a servant doesn’t know what his master’s business is. Instead, I have called you friends for everything that I have learned from my father, I have made known to you.

12. 8:04

    You see here, we’re commanded to love each other the same way that Jesus loves us. And here, we read that there’s no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. There is no greater love. And we’re going to come back to that again in a bit. So here we are directly called friends of our King and our savior.

13. 8:30

    If we follow his commands, So, the importance of friendship in the Bible. Let’s start there. It starts back in the Garden of Eden. God, mentions how good everything is as he creates them. But then there’s something that I hadn’t noticed before I’d read it but glossed over it in Genesis 2 Verse 18, God says it’s not good.

14. 9:02

    He’s just created the whole world as we know it and he said every day, this is good. And he said, something’s not good. That man should be alone. This was before sin had entered the world. Adam was not yet complete, he needed Community, he needed company, he needed friendship. The first problem in the world wasn’t actually sin, it was solitude.

15. 9:32

    And friendship is then whole Bible theme, it obviously starts with Adam and Eve from a human sense, but then it’s touched on with relationships with our God as well. We read Enoch and Noah, who walked with God. It’s a Hebrew expression of friendship. Abraham was called a friend of God in Isaiah Moses spoke with God face to face as a man speaks with his friend.

16. 10:00

    You see, God invented friendship and he’s been building it and restoring it with us since the very beginning. And then he sent the world, his son, to be the Friend of Sinners befriending, all who trust and follow him.

17. 10:20

    So who are some other great examples of friendship in the Bible? Well, you probably already thinking of some of them, but what about David and Jonathan of all the friendships in the Bible that of David and Jonathan stands out, probably the most first Samuel 18 describes their friendship as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul.

18. 10:45

    The soul of Jonathan was neat to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. You see, imagine in life battling Against All Odds, facing the anger and the politics of important people in your life, but having your best mate on the other side to confide in, and Trust to have your back. And what about Moses and Aaron?

19. 11:17

    The partnership of Moses and Aaron is one of the greatest examples of two friends working together to do something great. Imagine those times you’ve been really in a really nervous situation, may be presenting at work or presenting something at school, maybe at the meeting doing doing an egg’s order or your first talk, maybe when you’re in front of a group of new mums or ladies or you’re about to try a new hobby and you know, you get a bit wobbly, you get a bit shaky, Moses had his friend, his brother, his best mate there to strengthen him in, to do the talking for him. What about Elijah and Elisha?

20. 12:05

    Elijah was the well-known prophet of Israel. He was the man who called down the fires of Heaven, defeating the prophets of Baal and the man who caused a drought in Israel for three years through prayer. And to help him carry out his work. God saw it fit to send the younger. Elijah, a friend and an eventual successor. You see, I age also doesn’t matter in friendship and experience, doesn’t always matter. It’s all about the relationship.

21. 12:44

    What about this one Naomi and Ruth? The story of Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth is one of the fringes of one of friendship found in a very unlikely place. I mean, how often have we heard the jokes and opinions about parents-in-law and mothers-in-law. But here is an example of a true loyal friendship within family.

22. 13:11

    Ruth didn’t hesitate to give when Naomi was in need. This is the kind of action that creates the strongest of friendships and gives us a sense of security. We know that when we’re in trouble, someone will be there for us. And we have Daniel and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. The relationship between Daniel and his three. Best friends help us think about the real meaning of friendship. These three young Lads grew in their faith together. They stood by each other during some trials and they never allowed their friendship to take God’s place in their lives. Not even in the face of death and for teenagers. And young people here.

23. 14:04

    This is such a good example about friendship. Something to read about lean on each other through whatever life throws at you. I’m not really going to go into how to make friends and the advice and warnings Etc of friendships, but that is a fantastic study to do especially with kids and with our young people, as they learn to navigate relationships in life. What is good though?

24. 14:38

    Is realizing the Bible and in particular, The Book of Proverbs is a practical guide to real true friendships. It gives us wisdom and helps us navigate this amazing and Powerful gift. But something that can be complex at times and needs constant thought and work to get, right? Because I will just add. I’m by no means an expert on friendship.

25. 15:10

    I’ve had to work on it. A lot in my life. You have friends that come and go in your life. I have friends that I’ve made within the last year, people are really close friendships. And I’ve had other friendships that I’ve lost over time and I have regrets about it, but it’s something we all go through. So, keep working on it.

26. 15:32

    So some verses from Proverbs Proverbs 12 verse 26. The righteous choose their friends carefully. But the Way of the Wicked leads them astray, 16:28. A perverse person stirs up, conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. 17:9, whoever would Foster love covers over and offense but whoever repeats the matter, separates close friends. 17 verse 17 that we touched on earlier a friend loves at all times. And a brother is born for a time of adversity. 18:24 one who has unreliable friends, soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother

27. 16:36

    13:20 walk with the wise and become wise for a companion of fools suffers harm. And a great one is 27:17 as iron sharpens iron. So one person sharpens another, we really can help each other out with friendship.

28. 17:04

    So they’re all from Proverbs a great place to start. When studying friendship a couple of other great Bible verses Ecclesiastes 4 verse 9 to 12 Two people are better off than one. For they can help each other succeed. If one person falls the other can reach out and help but someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise two people lying.

29. 17:36

    Close together can keep each other warm, but how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated and I love this bit here but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better for a triple braided. Cord is not easily broken. 1st John 4 verse 11, dear friends, since God loved us that much.

30. 18:12

    We surely ought to love each other. And Philippians 2, verse 3. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility value, others above yourselves. Galatians 6:12. Sorry I have his the last one. Carry each other’s burdens. And in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. You see, friendship our friendship builds, and strengthens our community that we’re in in a world facing many epidemics, we have one very big one growing every day.

31. 18:57

    The loneliness epidemic And places like our Ecclesia has meetings churches. Gatherings. These are the places that we can build friendships and build relationships and be a safe, welcoming Community to those in need of friendship. One of the main goals of the Gospel is friendship. You see, if we’re telling people, the good news about the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ. Then we need to be telling them that following Jesus and obeying, his Commandments results in us being counted as one of his friends.

32. 19:43

    So friendship, how important and how powerful is it? Well it’s important enough and powerful enough to be something that even the world around us tries to hold onto and it’s referenced in stories and movies and songs every day.

33. 20:01

    A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of Honey left inside says winning the poop. You have Harry Potter, you have Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, you have movies, kids movies like Toy Story and recently, the Heritage College production of Wind in the Willows. In all these things we see friendship and love used as the theme creating magic and power that defeats every obstacle and let’s friends work together for victory. I jumped onto the Quran Christian website because I thought I’ll tell you about some good resources on friendship that they have. 1600 items came up on their website. So good luck.

34. 21:00

    It’s a big deal. Another group of subjects that I’m passionate about is awareness of mental health, Suicide, Prevention and loneliness. They all have their research and their support groups, refer to friendship and having somebody to talk to and confide in as being so important. Reaching out, when things get, tough is so vital, but we need to have someone to turn to don’t

35. 21:36

    And on the flipside of that, we need to make sure that we are being a friend that someone else can come too. If able to and we need to know how to ask if they’re okay and how to listen to them and how to respond. And there’s a lot of great info out there.

36. 21:57

    If this is something you want to learn more about and I’m always happy to help point you in the right direction. If I can Friendship isn’t easy. And it’s different for all of us at different times in our lives. So for the men here today, dad’s Sons Brothers mates, look out for each other.

37. 22:26

    Make time for each other. As dogs, we have a tendency to bottle it up inside. I know that as well as anyone but lean on your friends and your mates. And remember, we have some great examples that God has given us, go grab a coffee or a burger, go kick a footy or have a hit, a goal. Go fishing.

38. 22:53

    Go cook a T-bone steak, and while you’re at it, why not message a few other blokes to join in with you. Always keep an eye out on each other.

39. 23:08

    And to our mom’s our wives, our daughters, our sisters, and our ladies here, how are you all going as? If life isn’t tough enough with the pressures of society, without throwing in pandemics and lockdowns, it’s been a tough couple of weeks and for those others around Australia, it’s been a tough year. But ladies have you caught up with a friend lately? Do you need to get out of the house and confide in a buddy about the good?

40. 23:40

    All the bad things happening in your life at the moment. Have you noticed, another lady? That might be doing it tough at the moment or feeling lonely. Arrange a catch-up, get someone to watch the kids if you can. I know it’s hard, folks, help out and go and make some time for a friendship recharge.

41. 24:01

    Ruth and Naomi and other awesome female characters of the Bible, are there to encourage To our teenagers here and young adults, got a great group here at Burnside. Is school or uni or work or relationship issues on your mind? Hit up a friend text call email, tweet or hashtag a buddy. Remember age doesn’t matter, either you may make a friend with an oldie or even someone younger than you and and that’s great.

42. 24:42

    The inspiration for you can be Daniel and his mates and David and Jonathan. And to any kid, he’s trying to listen to me ramble on this morning as well. Kids be a good friend, be kind and be helpful. Stand up for your mates and always ask your parents or your older brothers, or sisters, or even your school teachers, if you need help with your friendship circles.

43. 25:11

    So all of this leads us back to the verses, we started with and why we’re here this morning. This is why friendship matters. This is why it’s important and why it’s powerful. The ultimate example of friendship. But not just a friendship of relationship. It’s that between Mankind and the Lord Jesus Christ. See, Jesus said in John, 15 verse 13.

44. 25:45

    Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Christ is the purest example of a friend that we can find in the Bible laying down his life. His extraordinary valuable life for the friends whom he loved. Even though he had the power to call those around him, his servants, he called them his friends.

45. 26:20

    Jesus also showed us another much-needed. Attribute of a friend. He wasn’t afraid of giving loving constructive criticism. His simple phrase of go and sin. No more. It wasn’t an insult. It wasn’t hateful or shaming. It was a simple caution and encouragement to live differently.

46. 26:47

    Christ wasn’t afraid of pointing out the best way to live. He didn’t do this in an amazing or out their way, however, he simply made his point and then he lived out what he was doing as an example. The truest friend is Jesus.

47. 27:09

    And friends are like-minded. They love one another with sacrificial love. We are blessed to have been adopted into the family of God and to have been made friends of Jesus. And in return, we’re called to be good friends to each other. The Bible teaches us that true friendship is characterized by love. And the Proverbs which we read the examples of David and Jonathan and those other characters the instructions to our kaliesha’s and ultimately Jesus example, all depict true friendship. A true friend loves gives wise counsel remains loyal forgives. And promotes the welfare of others. So let’s lay it all out this morning at our Lord’s feet, Our Savior, our King, and our friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. He laid down his life for his friends. And why will John chapter 3?

48. 28:42

    John chapter 3 verse 14 to 17 and as Moses lifted up, the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life.

49. 29:04

    And this is it right here in verse 16, for God, so loved the world. That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. I’ve seen the heartache of parents losing a child first hand.

50. 29:48

    Twice in my life. It’s something I will never forget. It’s something I wish I had never seen. And it’s something that no one should have to go through and I’m respectful of anyone that has gone through it. But it’s also the two times in my life that I realized, just how powerful verse 16 really is.

51. 30:17

    Because God loved the world so much. And keep in mind it’s the world that hates him. It’s the world that hates his son. God, loved the world so much that he gave his son. and I look at the pain of those parents losing their child and it makes me realize how powerful God’s love really is our God gave his only son so that we could be saved.

52. 30:51

    And that was done through the most, ultimate Act of friendship ever seen in Jesus laying down his life for us. Let’s pray to our God. Now through our savior and our mediator and our friend, as we break this bread and eat it. And as we pour this wine and we drink it because we love Because God first loved us and we can be good friends because we have the best example of a friend ever sang.

53. 31:27

    So, stay safe everybody. Work on your friendships in the weeks and months and years to come, reach out to somebody. Check in on somebody and keep working away at it until we finally meet our friend face-to-face.

54. 32:00

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55. 32:15

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56. 32:56

    God, bless and talk to you next week.