Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Tuesday, August 24,

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

Memory Verse John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:12-15 Doctrine of Friends, Friendship.

X. Summary of Friendship with God.

Genesis 18:17, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing …?”

Our friendship with God is based on hearing Him by means of His Word, Bible Doctrine resident within your soul.

When you have His Word and then faith rest, trust, and rely upon it, you will be a friend of God.

There are two aspects to our friendship: The Difficulties and Delights.

1) The Difficulties of His Friendship.

Gen 18, why did Abraham stop praying when he did?

Gen 18, why did Abraham stop praying when he did? Because he was still lacking a level of intimacy in his relationship with God.

That intimacy enables you to boldly continue on with the Lord in prayer until your desire is granted.

Whenever you stop short of your true desire in prayer because of doubt, then you still have another level to go.

It shows that you are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have you to be. John 17:22

In the last thing you prayed about, were you devoted to your desire or to God?

Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God?

Mat 6:8, “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him”.

The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better.

Psa 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart”.

If you have a lack of faith in Him, you still have a ways to go before you can know that you are His friend.

Keep praying to get a perfect understanding not of your wants, needs and desires, but of God Himself.

2) The Delights of His Friendship.

This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will.

It is evidence of a level of intimacy, which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your education in the life of faith.

When you have a right- standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are in God’s will.

Your common sense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit.

You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God.

You also know that if your decisions are wrong, He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint.

Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, August 24, 2010 Tape # Friendship with God, Part 6 Upper Room Discourse, Part 406 John 15:13-15; Gen 18 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010