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Guest (Male): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

Jack Graham: A real friend, a man or woman in Christ, will help you to pray more, build bigger dreams and bolder, and compete harder and live better. The right friends will encourage you and stretch you.

Guest (Male): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about what it means to be personally known and chosen by God. Now, here is Dr. Graham with his message, "You've Got a Friend in Me."

Jack Graham: Jesus told his disciples, when we reach John's Gospel Chapter 15, or they have left the upper room. We find ourselves in the middle of the night and it was a night like no other. It was dark and it was dark in a number of ways. It was the Passover night, the last time Jesus would share the Passover with his disciples because he himself is the Passover Lamb and would give the final and ultimate sacrifice.

So he gathers his chosen in a cloistered room. Just Jesus and his men. And he makes all of these astonishing promises. He talks to us about preparing a place for us in heaven. He speaks to us about peace, not as the world gives, but the peace that only God can give. He speaks to us of prayer and the power of prayer and answered prayer because in Christ we have access to the throne room of God.

He speaks to us about the power and the presence and the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is key to all of this because the Holy Spirit lives in us. The presence of Christ is the presence of God's Spirit, his Spirit, living in us. So he delivers all of these promises and at the close of Chapter 14, after they have observed the Passover meal together and after Judas had exited the room to go about the betrayal of our Lord, they exit the room themselves and they begin to walk in the darkness.

It was the road to the cross. Jesus is literally hours away, minutes away if you choose to say it, minutes away from the cross when he would die on the cross for our sins because God loved us so very much. He looked at the world and said, "I love you this much," and he stretched out his arms and he died on the cross. And so now he's walking with these disciples.

And as he's walking on this road down to a place called Gethsemane where he would pray and surrender his life to the will of the Father to offer his life and there to be arrested. And as he walks with these men, he says this, beginning in verse 12: "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you." This is on repeat from earlier in the upper room when he said in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you."

And so he says it again. And then this great verse, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I call you," don't miss it, "I call you my friends." Now let that sink in for just a moment.

The God of creation, the Lord of the universe, the Savior of the world, says, "I am inviting you to be my friend. You have a friend in me." We understand Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Savior, we understand many things about our Lord, but it blows my mind to think that I could be a friend of God. God said this to Abraham back in the Old Testament. It's the only one mentioned in the Old Testament of which it said that Abraham was a friend of God.

And you know why? He followed the Lord by faith. He trusted in God, and so God said, "Abraham is my friend." And so now Jesus is repeating this to his disciples and remember what he says in the upper room to these chosen ones includes us because later he prays us in and seals it in for all of us because he says, "I pray for not only these but those who come after." So he's talking about you and me. He's talking to you and me.

And he says, "You are my friends." Let's pick it up again in verse 15. "For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you." Just like a good friend sharing secrets with a friend, sharing insights, Jesus is doing that. And then he said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go out and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask, whatever you pray, you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, love one another."

And so this text in front of us that we've just read is all about our friendship and our fellowship with God and with one another, the love that we share in Christ together. So consider first of all that we are made for friendship with God. We are created for a relationship with God. That is why we are here. That is why he created all of humankind.

Concerning life, God made us for relationships. And the rest is his details as he directs us. And yet so many people are lonely and empty and don't have good relationships. Loneliness is at epidemic, pandemic proportions in our nation and really around the world. Millions of Americans are very lonely, and this includes the older and it includes the younger. So we are made then to love and to be loved.

And when we look at our lives through the years, going all the way back to childhood, at least for me, I remember friends in childhood, playmates. And then there were schoolmates, guys and gals that we hung out with. We go back to class reunions and we hardly recognize them, but friends that were for a very important period. And then there were wedding mates and then workmates and then all the friends that we share in church, churchmates. I mean, you can think of all the mates. I like that word.

All the mates that we've had in life. We should cherish the people in our past and present who are real friends. Now there are all kinds of friends. Of course, there are casual acquaintances, friends that we meet at church or casual acquaintances in the neighborhood. These are the people that sort of come in and out of our lives and they touch us perhaps in a good way for a moment, but it's just casual.

Then there are fair-weather friends. You know what that is. They're on the good days, but nowhere to be found on the bad days. But then there are true friends as the Proverb says, friends that stick closer than a brother. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Are you looking for a true friend, a real friend? Jesus is that kind of friend.

Because Jesus meets all the qualifications and characteristics of a friend like that. He is someone who loves us unconditionally and unwavering and undeserved love he gives sacrificially and steadfastly. He said to those disciples in John 13:1, his opening atmosphere was he loved them to the end, even though they failed him in many ways. He said then, "I have called you my friends."

Our Savior, our God, is not a distant deity way out there somewhere. The God who made us, who created us, is willing to step into our lives, willing to live in us. And you know, a good friend is someone you like to be around. Too many people see Jesus as some kind of austere, pious recluse, a religious person, and that you really couldn't get that close to him. That's the opposite of Jesus.

Little children enjoyed the presence of Jesus. Sinners, party-goers, liked Jesus and invited him to their home. Though he celebrated life with them, he never sinned with them. And yet even the enemies of Jesus called him the friend of sinners. It wasn't a compliment, but aren't you glad that Jesus is the friend of sinners? Because that would include you and me and all of us, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

And so there's a true friend who's always there when needed, who's always present and Jesus is that real friend. And that's why I often say that Jesus is not someone I just know about, he's someone I know and someone I love because I spend time with him. I know him. For all these years he has walked with me and been with me. And he has with you as well, if you have him in your life.

Unfortunately, some people really don't have this relationship that we're talking about. Look back at verse 16 of chapter 15. He says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit." And why does he choose us in this way? Because he simply loves us. Not because we were lovely or even likable, but because of his own love.

This is the kind of friend we have in Jesus. Someone who knows all about us, who knows all about you, the good, the bad and the ugly, your flaws, your failures, your sin, your selfishness. And he chooses you anyway. You know what this is called? Grace. Favor. You are a favored friend and he accepts me and you in spite of what we have done by his grace.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "You've Got a Friend in Me." Pastor, 2027 is going to be an amazing year and you've got an awesome trip coming up. Will you tell us more about it?

Jack Graham: Say, when was the last time something really truly changed your life? If that's been a long time, let me invite you to something that is absolutely life-changing and that is to go to the land where Scripture comes alive. I'm personally leading a group to Israel, March 9 through 19, 2027, and we're going to be walking together, studying God's word together, and growing in our faith together in the Holy Land.

From the shores of Galilee to the streets of Jerusalem, from the Garden of Gethsemane to the garden tomb, every step will deepen your understanding of God's word and it will bring the Bible to life. I like to say that a trip to Israel with Christian friends is like a front-row seat to the Bible. This is truly more than a trip. It is a spiritual pilgrimage that will strengthen your faith and leave a lasting mark on your life. Because interest is very strong, space is limited, so I want to encourage you to register now. Register early. I would be honored to travel with you. Learn more and reserve your place at JackGraham.org/Israel.

Guest (Male): Now, let's get back to today's message, "You've Got a Friend in Me."

Jack Graham: We are no longer slaves, Jesus said. Now in one sense, we are still slaves. In that as the New Testament teaches us, we are bondservants now of Jesus Christ. We are his slaves, we are his servants and we gladly serve him. We are owned, bought and paid for in full with the blood of Christ. We are owned by the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we are slaves, but he said, "I don't call you slaves, I call you friends."

In the ancient world, some kings would have slaves around them as the slaves of the court. They were the slaves that served the king next to the king and often we're told in history these slaves became intimates, friends of the king and he would share secrets. They would hear the things all about the king and all about the kingdom because they were so close. It is like this when Jesus is talking about you're not slaves of the king now, you're friends of the king as well.

Jesus said, "You are my friend." I know him and he knows me and this is possible because of the relationship he's established at the cross where no longer at war with God, enemies of God, but we are the friends of God. And he can be your personal Savior, Master, and Friend if you will choose to say yes to him. And when you know Jesus, the friend of friends, you discover a relationship that is beyond any human relationship you could know.

And so that brings me to the second thing and that is friendship with Jesus changes the way we live. If you are a friend of him, he changes us. "You are my friends," he said, "if you do what I command you." And what did he command us to do? To go and bring spiritual fruit. Have you noticed that friends, especially if they've been friends for a long time, start to act alike?

You show me your inner circle of friends and I'll show you the kind of person you're going to be in short order. Because we start pretty much acting like the friends we choose, why you should choose your friends wisely. But you know when we have friends like that, we start acting like, we can finish each other's sentences, laugh at each other's jokes. Some people even start to dress alike and look alike.

Well, the more time you spend with Jesus, the more you start to look like Jesus, think like Jesus, act like Jesus. You start thinking like a Christian. You start acting like a believer. You love and live and bear fruit as Jesus said here. You're my confidants. Friends are confidants. We share secrets. He said, verse 15, look at the last phrase of verse 15. It says, "For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you."

If you're a friend of Jesus, you begin to understand the things of God. And how does that happen? Prayer and God's word. This is why we should all have a time with God alone every single day. Because the more you're in his word, he said, "Abide in me and my word." So what happens when we're in the word, we learn the ways of God and the will of God for our lives.

He shares life's secrets with us. He shares his very life with us. He says, "Ask me anything. Talk to me about everything because I'm going to be there with you. I'm a friend like that." And this is the key to all friendship and all relationship. You know, there's great studies coming out now about the impact and the influence when we read the Bible regularly. How it lessens depression and anxiety and we talked about it earlier, loneliness.

This is why we're constantly saying get in the Bible. Abide in Christ. Pray it in, think it through, live it out. And if you've drifted, if it's been a while since you've spent any real time with him, this would be a great day for you to recommit. We share the secrets of God. "Draw near to God," James says, "and he will draw near to you." So he picked you, he planned to receive you. You know we're all friends and we should love everyone.

But the circle, the inner circle that Jesus had and we should have should be friends of Jesus. Now hear me well. Yes, we love everyone. God loves everyone. But we have a unique relationship because Jesus says, "As I have loved you, love," who? "One another." Yes, Jesus and therefore we are the friend of sinners but our circle, our inner circle should be God's people.

That's true for our families. And you know the people you choose as your friends will either hold you back or build you up. What kind of friends do you have? They will either elevate your life or decelerate your life. A real friend, a man or woman in Christ, will help you to pray more, build bigger dreams and bolder and compete harder and live better. The right friends will encourage you and stretch you and help you succeed.

They won't drain you or deplete you. They will remind you of who you are in Christ, not who you are or what even you used to be. But real friends, like the friends we meet in church, will remind you not of what you used to be, but who you are in Jesus. That's what we are about. So celebrate and cherish your friends and choose your friends well. Well, one final point in closing and that is love one another like Jesus loves you.

Love one another like Jesus loves you. This is how the world will know you are a friend of Jesus. How are they going to know that you're a friend of Jesus? You say, "Well, because I tell them." Okay, that's a good start. But not necessarily because of your knowledge of the Bible. You should have great knowledge of the Bible, growing knowledge of the Bible. Not because you've memorized a lot of scriptures.

You know I encourage that, but this is not how the world will know that you're a friend of Jesus necessarily. And not because you go to church, as awesome it is to be in church, but that's not how primarily people know that you're a friend of Jesus. You know how they know if you're a friend of Jesus? Because you're glorifying God as he told us by bearing spiritual fruit, the character of Christ and the witness of your life.

That you're loving like Jesus loves, that you're loving others like Jesus loved you. He said love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love God then love your neighbor as you love yourself. Which means how can you love your neighbor as you love yourself if you don't first love yourself? Now I've heard some pious people say, "Oh no, don't love yourself." Well, that's a denial of your humanity.

Jesus didn't deny that. Loving yourself is the natural thing to do. It's the normal thing to do to take care of yourself. You got a headache, you take an aspirin. So you love yourself, you take care of yourself. But what it really means is if I know that I am loved like Jesus loves me, if I know I am loved like that, then I am free to love you. I'm full of his presence to love you. I love you because Jesus loves me and I love Jesus because he first loved me.

So here's the question: are you loving others like Jesus loved you? Do you love your spouse like that? Men, God said, "Husband, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it." Do you love like that? Love your kids like Jesus loves your kids and loves you. Love your neighbors, even those that you don't necessarily like. But love like Jesus loves. Say, "Well, that's hard to do." Yes, certainly it is.

But he will give us his love. Lord, your love. I don't like that guy over there, but Lord, help me to love him. Help me to learn how to love. I had a guy in my office years ago who said to me, made a mistake, he said to me, "Well, I just don't love my wife anymore." I had no compassion for that. You know what I said to him? "Then learn to love her." Jesus said don't lose your first love.

Don't tell me you can't love your wife if you claim the Spirit of the living God is alive in you. So learn to love your neighbors. What about all these that are coming from other countries, immigrants? Some people are getting really nervous about that. Well, what are we going to do? We're going to love them as our neighbors. We're going to love people like Jesus loves people.

We're going to bear fruit and more fruit and much fruit because this is how we show that we're the friends of Jesus. If you're a friend to Jesus, you can never hate someone. If you're a friend of Jesus, you can never harbor unforgiveness or bitterness in your heart towards someone because as he has forgiven us, we forgive one another. This is what it means to be a friend of Jesus because he is a friend to you.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "You've Got a Friend in Me." Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant. Helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's word through this ministry.

Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand new book, "The Lord is My Shepherd." In this encouraging study of Psalm 23, Dr. Graham shows how the Good Shepherd provides, guides, and stays with you even through life's darkest valleys. Text SEPTEMBER to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text SEPTEMBER to 59789.

Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: Here's what strikes me most about all this. Most of us have no shortage of connections. We've got contacts, followers, co-workers, people we nod at in the hallway. What we're short on is somebody who actually knows us, the real version, not the curated one, and stays anyway. That's the offer on the table today. Not a religion to practice, not a set of rules to follow.

A friendship with the God who made you, who already knows every single thing about you and chose you regardless. So let me ask you something practical. If Jesus really is your friend, not just a title you'd check on a form, but someone you actually talk to, actually listen to, actually spend time with. What would change about this week? Would you handle that hard conversation differently?

Would you carry that worry differently, knowing you're not carrying it alone? Would you look at the people who are hard to love a little differently, knowing that's exactly the kind of friend he's been to you? Friendship isn't built on rare, dramatic moments. It's built in the ordinary, daily stuff: the conversations, the time given, the showing up. That's true with the people in your life and it's true with Jesus too.

He's not waiting for a crisis to be your friend. He's waiting for you to actually treat him like one. So this week, don't just believe you're loved by him. Act like it. Talk to him like you would a friend who's earned your trust. Let him in on the stuff you don't tell anybody else. And then watch what happens when that friendship starts shaping how you treat everyone else around you. That's not religion, that's relationship, and it's been offered to you all along.

Guest (Male): And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, "The Lord is My Shepherd." Just text SEPTEMBER to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how we are to keep bearing witness to Christ regardless of the cost. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.