The Power of a Friend // A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed, Part 3

<p>Friendships are things we don’t often think too much about. We just have friends and we enjoy they’re company and that’s it. But there is such incredible power in a God–ordained friendship. And God … God means for us to lay a hold of that power.</p> <p> </p> <h3><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>Laying Down Your Life</strong></span></h3> <p>Today we're continuing on in a series of messages that I've called, "A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed" and I really want to take a look at the heart of friendship, what friendship is all about because I wonder whether in this disposable world in which we live whether we're only too prepared to trash friends who don't suit us. People who don't always tell us what we want to hear, people who don't pander to our whims.</p> <p>Now don't get me wrong I believe there are some people that we all know that we shouldn't have as close friends because they'll do us more harm than good. We talked about that last week on the program. But we live in increasingly in a world where there are so many other distractions, well if our friends are a bit too difficult to get on with we just ditch them and we immerse ourselves in a rapidly growing range of entertainment options.</p> <p>And that is, in fact, what a lot of people are doing. They're kind of cocooning themselves in things that please them and in so doing withdrawing step by step from meaningful friendships.</p> <p>It kind of works for a while but my what a lonely place that ends up being. I wonder where you are right now in your life when it comes to the friendship stakes? When some young lawyer – schooled in the Old Testament Law of Moses, which is what lawyers in the 1st Century of Israel relied on – when this lawyer asks Jesus in effect, "Out of all the commandments in the law (and there are, the scholars tell me, around six hundred and thirteen commandments) which ones were the most important." Jesus was very quick to answer. Mark chapter 12, verse 29-34:</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em style="font-size: inherit;">Th