Jas 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

3. Becoming a Friend of God!
Js 2:21-23 Was not Abraham our father
justified by works, when he offered his
son Isaac upon the altar? You see that
faith was active along with his works,
and faith was completed by works, and
the scripture was fulfilled which says,
"Abraham believed God, and it was
reckoned to him as righteousness"; and
he was called the friend of God.

5. How many of us here this morning
value friendship?
One might be surprised just how much
attention is given to the subject of
“friendship” in the Bible!
▪ Our friends are a big part of our lives and
we have been created for companionship!
▸Gen.2:18 “it is not good for man to be
alone”
▪ From the beginning man was created to be
a social being, we need friends & family!

6. The importance of friends!
▪ Pr 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a
brother is born for adversity.
▪ Pr 18:24 A man who has friends must himself
be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer
than a brother.
▪ Pr 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But
the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
▪ Pr 22:24-25 Make no friendship with an angry
man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you
learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.

7. As there is no fiercer enemy than God, there
is also no better friend than God!
God is in fact the “best” friend!
▪ From the very beginning God has desired
that man would be the friend of God!
▪ God has desired that we would walk with
Him and be in fellowship with Him!
▪ God’s plan for man in principle has
always been the same! Faith + Obedience
= Salvation!
▪ This is how we become God’s friend!

8. I. God Desires that we Find Him!
Is. 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked
forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his
thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will
have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will
abundantly pardon.
▪ God has always desired a relationship with His
creation! From the beginning God is intimately
involved with man!
▸“Created in image/likeness of God”
(Gen.1:26)
▸“Given life by hands & mouth of God” (2:7)

9. God didn’t move, it was man!
(Gen. 3:1-13)
▪ It was Adam & Eve that hid from God and not
God hiding from them!
▪ God can be found, God can be known!
▸Ps 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I
will be exalted among the nations, I will be
exalted in the earth!
▸Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even
His eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse!

10. God has given mankind an invitation to
“come unto Him!”
▪ Rev. 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say,
"Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let
him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take
the water of life freely.
▪ God desire that we search for Him and find Him!
▸Mt 7:7-8 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to
you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who
seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be
opened.”
▸3 things to do, 3 results that follow!

11. II. God Desires that we Be-
Friend Him!
To be our friend is one thing, to be God’s
friend is everything!
▪ God desires that all of mankind become His
friend! Jesus came to be-friend us!
▸1Tim. 2:4 who desires all men to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
▸Jn. 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.

12. Frindship works both ways!
Give some, get some!
▪ As we are to “seek” God, God has also come to
“seek” us!
▸Lk. 19:0 "for the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost."
▪ Faith is essential in becoming God’s friend!
▸Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him.
▸See also (Eph. 2:4-8) “Grace through faith!”

13. III. God Desires that we Follow
Him!
▪ Becoming a friend of God is not the end, it is
simply the beginning or an amazing journey with
Him! A life of excitement!
▸Mt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to
them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, "teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

14. Mt 28:20 "Teaching them to observe all things
that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
▪ Teaching from di-das’-ko which means it is
always in the present, there is no past tense
(have taught or have learned)
▪ This idea is seen many times in the Bible!
▸Rom. 6:4 “even so we also should walk in
newness of life.”
▸Lk. 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

15. Are we willing to truly follow in the foot
steps of Jesus?
▪ Mt. 16:24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If
anyone would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
▪ 1 Jn. 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought
himself also to walk just as He walked.
▪ 1 Pet. 2:21 For to this you were called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us
an example, that you should follow His steps:

16. IV. God Desires that we
Fellowship Him!
▪ This is to always be the desired result, to live
hand and hand with Jesus!
▸1 Jn 1:3 that which we have seen and heard
we declare to you, that you also may have
fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
▸Gen 6:9 This is the genealogy of Noah.
Noah was a just man, perfect in his
generations. Noah walked with God.

17. 2 Cor 6:14-18 Do not be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship has
righteousness with lawlessness? And what
communion has light with darkness? And what
accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a
believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement
has the temple of God with idols? For you are the
temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will
dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their
God, And they shall be My people." Therefore "Come
out from among them And be separate, says the
Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive
you." "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My
sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty."

18. Conclusion:
▪ Are we truly the friend of God this
morning? Have we come to know God not
only as Master & Creator, but as Father &
friend!
▪ If any of you here today are not yet a
Christian, then know this, God wants to be
your friend!
▪ For us that are Christians, lets understand
how good it is to have God as Father &
friend and walk hand and hand with Jesus!