FRIENDS OF FAITH 2

Amos 3:3             Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

 

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

I. FAITHFUL FRIENDS IN AN UNFAMILIAR PLACE [DANIEL 1-3]

 

1. Friends Willing to Stand with You  [Daniel 1:8-17]

 

2. Friends Willing to Pray with You  [Daniel 2:17-23, 48-49]

 

3. Friends Willing to Stand without You  [Daniel 3:12-18, 24-25]

 

II. FAITHFUL FRIENDS IN AN UNUSUAL PERFORMANCE [MARK 2]

 

You perhaps have heard the song “My Name is Lazarus” that suggests as an “illustration” that three of the men were all healed by Jesus [from blindness, a withered hand, and leprosy] but they all doubted if Jesus could heal their lame friend – but the fourth man, Lazarus, had no doubts because Jesus had brought him back from the dead. Well, the song isn’t scriptural in that [1] all these men had faith Christ could heal, and [2] this was early in Christ’s ministry whereas Lazarus was much later. A better song, by the same group is “He’d Still Been God” which reminds us that it’s not about what He did, it’s all about who He was/is.

Strangely enough I found this idea of who the men might be in a sermon by D.L. Moody [who died in 1899] in which he imagines the men to all having been healed by Jesus [blindness, lameness, leprosy and from being deaf/dumb]. In any case what we see from these faith-full friends [v. 5].

 

1. They Were Willing to Bear the Burden [v. 1-3]

 

2. They Were Willing to Bear the Cost [v. 4]

 

3. They Were Willing to Bear the Reproach [v. 4-12]