1
00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:03,600
Speaker 1: Life Audio.

2
00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,680
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you listening.

3
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:20,079
Speaker 2: Today's topic is about biblical friendship. We'll return with the

4
00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:35,879
Speaker 2: devotional after a brief message from one of our sponsors,

5
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:42,199
Speaker 2: Becoming a faithful friend like Jesus, written and read by

6
00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:47,960
Speaker 2: Emily Rose Massey. But Ruth said, do not urge me

7
00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,800
Speaker 2: to leave you or to return from following you. For

8
00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,440
Speaker 2: where you go, I will go, and where you lodge,

9
00:00:55,840 --> 00:01:00,200
Speaker 2: I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and

10
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,440
Speaker 2: your God my God. Where you die, I will die,

11
00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,720
Speaker 2: and there will I be buried. May the Lord do

12
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 2: so to me. And more also, if anything but death

13
00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:18,680
Speaker 2: parts me from you Ruth, Chapter one, verses sixteen through seventeen.

14
00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:25,200
Speaker 2: Biblical friendship exists when two or more people bound together

15
00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:29,360
Speaker 2: by a common faith in Jesus Christ, pursue him and

16
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:35,360
Speaker 2: his kingdom with intentionality and vulnerability. Rather than serving as

17
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,680
Speaker 2: an end in itself, biblical friendship serves primarily to bring

18
00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,839
Speaker 2: glory to Christ, who brought us into friendship with the Father.

19
00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,760
Speaker 2: It is indispensable to the work of the Gospel in

20
00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,160
Speaker 2: the earth and an essential element of what God created us.

21
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:58,160
Speaker 2: For Jonathan Holmes, we see evidence of faithful and committed

22
00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:04,680
Speaker 2: friendships like that in the scriptures Paul and Timothy, Jesus

23
00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:10,079
Speaker 2: and his disciples, David and Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi.

24
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,880
Speaker 2: Let's look at an example of loyalty in the life

25
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,480
Speaker 2: of Ruth in Ruth Chapter one, verses sixteen through seventeen.

26
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 2: But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you

27
00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,399
Speaker 2: or to return from following you. For where you go,

28
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,720
Speaker 2: I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge.

29
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:38,320
Speaker 2: Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

30
00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 2: Where you die, I will die, and there will I

31
00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,760
Speaker 2: be buried. May the Lord do so to me. And

32
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,760
Speaker 2: more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

33
00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:59,160
Speaker 2: John MacArthur calls these verses Ruth's hallmark expression of loyalty

34
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:05,200
Speaker 2: and commitment to Naomi. These verses verses sixteen and seventeen

35
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:10,120
Speaker 2: are commonly read at wedding ceremonies to express the depth

36
00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:15,080
Speaker 2: of faithfulness and commitment in the union of marriage, where

37
00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,840
Speaker 2: there is nothing necessarily wrong with using these verses to

38
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,079
Speaker 2: express loyalty and love in a marriage relationship. The proper

39
00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 2: context is rooted in the friendship between these two women,

40
00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,600
Speaker 2: Ruth and Naomi, but it is interesting to note that

41
00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:37,720
Speaker 2: their friendship was a very intimate one, a sole quality one,

42
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,680
Speaker 2: the type of commitment that one would find in a

43
00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:46,160
Speaker 2: biblical marriage, because its foundation is the same love for God.

44
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,160
Speaker 2: I believe it's important to understand where Ruth's ability to

45
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,760
Speaker 2: love and be loyal comes from. By God's grace, Ruth

46
00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,000
Speaker 2: turns away from the paganism of Moab and turns to Yahweh.

47
00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,440
Speaker 2: This response is evidence of her repentance, a turning away

48
00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:10,840
Speaker 2: from and her faith, a turning towards the One True God.

49
00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 2: Her conversion to becoming a follower of God is where

50
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:21,200
Speaker 2: it all begins. By God's grace, she becomes a lover

51
00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,080
Speaker 2: of God and receives his love for her, and then

52
00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:30,200
Speaker 2: pours that out on Naomi. Oh, may we do the same,

53
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:37,320
Speaker 2: intersecting faith and life. If we love God and our

54
00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,600
Speaker 2: indwelt by the Holy Spirit, God's love will be evident

55
00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,680
Speaker 2: in our lives by how well we show His love

56
00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:51,000
Speaker 2: for Him most importantly and for others. If you are

57
00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,760
Speaker 2: born again, God's love is abiding in you through the

58
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,719
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit. If that is true for you, is God's

59
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:04,720
Speaker 2: love being perfected in you? How well are you loving others?

60
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:09,680
Speaker 2: How purposeful how intentional are you with reaching out and

61
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 2: showing the love of Christ to others. My pastor recently

62
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,640
Speaker 2: said that the opposite of love is not hate but apathy.

63
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:23,120
Speaker 2: If your love is being perfected, it is growing, It

64
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,640
Speaker 2: is not apathetic and idle. We can see how God's

65
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,200
Speaker 2: love is being perfected in us by how we treat

66
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:36,479
Speaker 2: one another. The one another's in scripture help us to

67
00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,839
Speaker 2: become better friends because they help us love like Christ.

68
00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:46,080
Speaker 2: There are almost sixty of these verses in the New Testament. Clearly,

69
00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,520
Speaker 2: the most common phrase in the list of one another's

70
00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,720
Speaker 2: is love one another, but really all of the verses

71
00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,719
Speaker 2: are about loving one another because love is an action

72
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,840
Speaker 2: and because all of God's commands can be summarized as

73
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,520
Speaker 2: loving God and loving your neighbor. Living out these verses

74
00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,120
Speaker 2: in community is how we can love and be loved

75
00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,599
Speaker 2: by one another. Some practical ways we can grow in

76
00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,080
Speaker 2: our friendships are to look for shared activities that provide

77
00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,520
Speaker 2: an opportunity for us to talk, because it is conversation

78
00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:26,800
Speaker 2: that will deepen the friendship. Work days at church, beach days,

79
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,839
Speaker 2: working out together, shopping together, play dates, and shared meals.

80
00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,919
Speaker 2: Meals slow things down to become people oriented instead of

81
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:43,520
Speaker 2: task oriented. Conversation is engaged sharing and engage listening. Let's

82
00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,880
Speaker 2: find a good balance between the two. If conversation is

83
00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:52,440
Speaker 2: difficult for you, especially if the friendship is new, think

84
00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:54,320
Speaker 2: about what to ask your friend on the way to

85
00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:56,800
Speaker 2: meet with them so you have a fruitful topic you

86
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:01,039
Speaker 2: both can talk about casually and openly. Other idea would

87
00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,720
Speaker 2: be to study a book together and use that as

88
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,880
Speaker 2: a way to start a dialogue. Jesus is our example

89
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,720
Speaker 2: of how to love others. Well, how did Christ love

90
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:17,160
Speaker 2: his disciples? Jesus taught that friendship is the greatest expression

91
00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,360
Speaker 2: of love. Jesus sacrificed not only by pouring out his

92
00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,040
Speaker 2: life and devotion to his disciples, his friends, by giving

93
00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,840
Speaker 2: them his time, affectionate attention, but also by literally laying

94
00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,800
Speaker 2: down his life. He laid his life down for his friends.

95
00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,520
Speaker 2: He sacrificed it all ultimately in obedience and love for

96
00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,600
Speaker 2: the father you sent him, but also because of his

97
00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,480
Speaker 2: great love for his own. By God's grace, may we

98
00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:51,720
Speaker 2: all learn how to be sacrificial, selfless, faithful friends, just

99
00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:57,800
Speaker 2: like Jesus. For the reading Matthew Chapter twenty two, Verses

100
00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:05,160
Speaker 2: thirty seven through forty John chapter fifteen, First Corinthians, Chapter thirteen,

101
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,080
Speaker 2: Verses one through eight.

102
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,560
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what

103
00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,600
Speaker 1: you heard today, we want to make sure you know

104
00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,679
Speaker 1: about our sister podcast, your Daily Prayer. When you follow

105
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,040
Speaker 1: your daily prayer in your favorite podcast app, you'll get

106
00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,160
Speaker 1: a brand new prayer and devotional each day, so your

107
00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,840
Speaker 1: days begin in conversation with God. If you're looking to

108
00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,680
Speaker 1: grow in prayer or start your day with your heart

109
00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,840
Speaker 1: focused on the right things, search for your daily prayer

110
00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,040
Speaker 1: in your favorite podcast app and be sure to follow

111
00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,000
Speaker 1: the show so you get a new prayer delivered straight

112
00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 1: to you each morning.

113
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,120
Speaker 3: Hey friends, it's Kelly from Live Audio. We just launched

114
00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,720
Speaker 3: something new. It's called The Good Word, our free weekly

115
00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,400
Speaker 3: news letter built for people who want to go a

116
00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:08,679
Speaker 3: little deeper in their faith. Thank devotionals, guided prayers, curated podcasts, recommendations,

117
00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:11,920
Speaker 3: and a little community all in one place. No ads,

118
00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,760
Speaker 3: just good content. This one means a lot to us.

119
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,800
Speaker 3: We built The Good Word based on the audience survey

120
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,400
Speaker 3: so many of you filled out a few months back.

121
00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,080
Speaker 3: You told us what you wanted and we listened. So

122
00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,120
Speaker 3: thank you truly for helping us shape this Head to

123
00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:28,800
Speaker 3: the link in the show notes, and join our community today.

124
00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:30,320
Speaker 3: We'd love to have you