Jesus: King of Kings & Lord of Lords...and Your Best Friend.

Today was "Friends Day" at Ark of the Rockies Church, so pastor Michael focused the message on the friendship of Jesus. Proverbs 18:24 says, "But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother," and we know Him as Jesus! Pastor Michael highlighted 3 reasons Jesus wants to be your best friend: 1) He knows everything about you and still wants to be your friend (Psalm 139), 2) He's a friend who says He will never leave or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), 3) He's the only friend who died in your place to free you from the wages of sin (death) (Romans 6:23), and freely gives you eternal life (John 3:16). Romans 5:6-9 tells us, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly die). But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from God's wrath" (NET).

So, how does one become the friend of Jesus? By simply believing in Him and what He did for you and accepting it for yourself. We need to tell Him that from the heart. Once you do, what Jesus told His disciples will be true for you too, when He said, "My commandment is this—to love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from the Father."

The ultimate obedience Jesus requires is to believe in Him (John 6:29). Once you do, He will be your best friend and begin a transformational work in your life. He knows that we cannot change ourselves (John 15:5). So, Jesus offers His hand of friendship to all who will take it. But because He is also just, one day He will withdraw His hand of friendship. He must judge those who refuse to be friends with Him. Why? The King of Kings and Lord of Lords cannot and will not accept evil and rebels to coexist with His friends in His coming kingdom.