How can you become a friend of God? In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson talks about how to develop a strong friendship with God. Drawing from Jesus’ example, we see how personal He is with everyone He met. Surrender and spending time with God are keys to becoming His friend.
just because we sing the song i am a
friend of god doesn’t mean i’m a friend
of god
i don’t mean in any way that god would
reject me i’m just saying friendship
takes time you learn their voice you
recognize a friend who calls you on the
phone because you spend time with them
what is it what is it about this jesus
that is so commanding that someone
here’s followed them
and something
inside of them comes so alive that
nothing else matters how does that
happen
it wasn’t the result of a sermon it
wasn’t an altar call
it wasn’t a uh you know a summer camp or
at the end they made a decision i’m
going to follow jesus it was just simply
somebody came by the shore while they’re
cleaning nets and jesus said follow me
peter goes
done
i’m in
what what does that take so here’s
here’s the disciples following jesus
they’re with him
for three and a half years jesus then
dies but the last week of his life jesus
starts talking to these guys
and in john 14 15 and 16 he mentions
something four times
that is so significant
on four occasions he gives them a blank
check
he gives them
what he gave solomon
he put it this way in john 15 he said if
you abide in me my words abide in you
you can ask anything you want it’ll be
done for you
blank jack
in john 16 i think it’s around verse 20
he says
up until now you’ve asked nothing of the
father remember ever all dialogue with
god has been with jesus himself
so now he says up until now you’ve asked
the father nothing in my name but
there’s a day coming
soon quickly where you will ask the
father and anything you ask him in my
name will be done for you so four times
in three chapters jesus gave them blank
checks
why
because right in the middle of it this
is his in the last week of his life this
is one of his final conversations
he unveils the reason
for four blank checks given to his
disciples
and it’s in john 15.
he said i no longer call you servants
i call you friends
just because we sing the song i am a
friend of god doesn’t mean i’m a friend
of god
i don’t mean in any way that god would
reject me i’m just saying friendship
takes time you learn their voice you
recognize a friend who calls you on the
phone because you spend time with them
it’s frequent interaction it causes us
to know this is what they value this is
their favorite color this is what they
like to do you know sunday afternoons
this is their hobby this is their
whatever we get to know them because of
time together
we know jesus sometimes through a song
through a favorite scripture
but we’ve been summoned into a
relational journey
and it was to the 12 that had been with
him for three and a half years he said
to them
you can ask whatever you want
he didn’t announce that to anyone who
was in the crowd
that would have been a welcomed message
in john 6 instead of eat my flesh drink
my blood people would have voted for
that one any day over the drink blood
thing that he was preaching
they would have bought right into that
immediately they would have increased
their numbers the altar call would have
been massive
but jesus chose not to do that here’s my
question for you
this man
asked about eternal life
and jesus gave him an answer
that was perfectly fitting for him
because jesus saw the horror
but most of us
would have led him in a prayer
and tried to make him believe
that he was fully surrendered to jesus
but was he
he wouldn’t be any more saved after my
prayer than he was with jesus’s
conversation
the point isn’t to shame people or to
lock horns with people or to challenge
that’s not the point the point is is
tenderly we love people and speak and
and care and direct people into this
relationship where it just makes sense
drop the nets it just it’s the most
logical thing in the world to do i don’t
need the boat
it’s it’s like we just we leave things
to come with i mean the farther you go
with god the less you can take with you
he could have started the conversation
with
john
15 7.
abide in me
you can just see him on the beach
peter’s never seen him before jesus
walks up says peter
abide in me my words abide in you you
can ask whatever you want it’ll be done
there would have been a whole bunch more
than peter that signed up for that one
because they would have signed up for
the stuff
and not the relationship
it’s all about the relationship
anything i build on the reward i believe
in the reward so much
it’s a central part of the faith
in the journey with the lord not the
journey for salvation but in in the
journey with the lord once we’re born
again
faith is an expression of our confidence
in him as the rewarder
that’s hebrews 11. i must believe he is
and the reward of those who seek him
the confidence of him being the rewarder
is essential in our journey
i i feel like the lord
let me rephrase this
the shaking in our life
reveals
whether we’re in it for the journey
or for all the things
because if i measure how well i’m doing
by breakthrough in these things
then my own self-esteem in christ goes
up and goes down
goes up
goes down
but if i see it for what it is
there’s a reward he’s given me
much more than i ever deserved
the next week there’s a challenge
this gives me an opportunity to draw
nearer
it’s all about the journey and who i’m
traveling with
see it’s all for jesus it really is it’s
not
it’s not
jesus looking for
entrepreneurs who
know how to handle money he just found
one there’s a prime candidate jesus
doesn’t need anybody’s gift
he can bring revival through a rock if
he wants to
he can anoint a camel to preach
i mean do whatever he wants he’s god
old testament he had a
donkey preaching
he once announced i can raise up a whole
generation to abraham out of these rocks
what
trust me
all i got to do is speak and they come
not only that i can get them to praise
the point i’m trying to make is when
when the lord the lord doesn’t look at
you know uh celebrities and
you know all the stuff and look for the
most talented people
i i love talent i do i love i love human
talent i love the olympics i love the
olympics for that reason
it’s just bizarre to me
that people will train eight hours a day
for four years eight years to run a 10
second race
and then it’s over
and if they’re in first place they won
by you know 100th of a second
how does it come down to that how do you
develop skills like that i i’m so
impressed with these guys
i love human skill i love
the musicians the actors the actresses
the business people that just have the
the intuition to know what to do
culturally they see what’s happening
they know how to invest
they know they fly over a city and they
know where the city is growing so they
invest in this land and in that land
it’s just amazing to me this natural
wisdom and skill that god’s given people
i love it all but he doesn’t need any of
it
he doesn’t look at the landscape and go
this guy can really sing i should get
him saved
he doesn’t think that way
he just doesn’t think that way
he just finds people
that have stuff
and he says
come on
you just can’t drag the boat with you
i’m not one who believes
that that message
of abandoning all is the mark of
surrender to christ and you have to sell
everything to do that you know if he
says for you to do it you do it
that’s just the point
but jesus ministered to people
differently mary and martha
lazarus very wealthy people never said
that to them why
it wasn’t at the center of their heart
see he has he has laser vision he is
is that that tenacity to go right to the
root and the core of issues
with one person is the bitterness
regarding their past
but it’s the key to their breakthrough
to another person it’s their whole
vision for their life they have to lay
it down
yeah i’m so glad that you watch this
video i do pray that it’s a great great
strength and encouragement to you and
i’ve got a verse that it really is my
cry for all of us and it’s psalms 20
it’s verse 4
may he grant you your heart’s desire and
fulfill all your plans
that’s my prayer that’s my prayers that
this would be the season of rich rich
fulfillment
thanks for joining us