Overview

This sermon explored the connection between the fear of the Lord and true friendship with God, emphasizing that intimacy with God is built through reverence, trust, and obedience. Using the lives of Abraham, Lot, Moses, and the disciples, the message contrasted surface-level belief with deep relational closeness to God. Abraham was presented as the model of God’s friend because he obeyed immediately and faithfully even when God’s commands did not make sense, such as when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac. Because of Abraham’s fear of the Lord, God entrusted him with deeper revelation and shared His plans with him. In contrast, Lot was described as righteous yet spiritually unaware because he lived too closely aligned with the world rather than cultivating intimacy with God. The sermon also highlighted that while many followed Jesus for signs and miracles, only those who obeyed and remained faithful were called His friends. Ultimately, the message taught that friendship with God is conditional upon obedience and holy fear, and that God desires believers to grow beyond simply being servants into mature, trusted friends who know His heart and walk closely with Him.

Notes

• What is important in a friendship to you?
  • Acceptance, Empathy, Communication, Respect, Come as you are.
• How does the fear of God draw you into friendship with him?

• Who do you share your secrets with? Your close friends or anyone?
  • God is the same way, he shares his secrets with those he is close to. He’s not everyone’s ‘friend’.
• Abraham is an example of a friend of God
  • God asked Abraham to kill the son he waited for, no reason given.

• Abraham didn’t hesitate, he woke up early the next morning.
• The emotional war he went through must have been so devastating.

• The Angel knew Abraham loved God, because he obeyed even though he didn’t understand.

• God revealed a piece of himself to Abraham that hadn’t been revealed before.

• God asks Abraham his opinion on Sodom and Gamora

• The bible calls Lot righteous and he is as clueless to what’s going on as Sodom and Gamora.
• I’ve righteous man knows God’s plan, the other righteous man does not. The difference is, one righteous man fears God and is his friend. The other doesn’t
• Lot represents the world’s view of or carnal Christianity, Abraham represents the biblical view of Christianity.

• The fruit of Lot’s life is not the same as Abrahams.
• God spoke face to face with Abraham, like you would with a friend.

• Israels’ righteous and Moses righteousness
• Israel knew God by his acts, and how he answered their prayers
• Moses knew God intimately, and new his secrets, and actually managed to change his mind.

• God trusted Moses.
• Jesus didn’t trust people

• Jesus had a lot of people leave him, persecute him, and betray him. But he trusted his disciples

• Jesus no longer saw them as servants, but friends.

• Why is there a time that we are treated as servants to God?
  • It is to protect us.
• God isn’t going to be our friend till we are established in who we are, and who he is.
• Once we truly fear the Lord, then we can truly be his friend.

• You are my friends IF, if is a conditional statement. We must OBEY him first.
• Jesus is saying that not everyone in the church is his friend, but he does want us to all have a close enough relationship with him to call him friend.
• When we live too closely to the world, it can end up poisoning our relationship with God and who he wants us to be.
• We don’t have to be perfect, to be friends with God.

• James is considered a New Testament book of wisdom
• God is jealous for us, His Spirit inside us, is jealous for us to obey him.

Reflection