A Friend

Proverbs 18:24 says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Isn’t that beautiful? And of course, we know His name... His name is Jesus, the friend of the lonely and of the sinner.

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
2 Corinthians 13:11-14

You know with the devil’s propaganda machine going all over the place... Talking negatively - talking about farm attacks, about a possible second wave, about farms being burnt out, there is a tremendous amount of anxiety and fear. Now, what do we need? We need a friend - That is right!

Now, I looked up the Oxford Dictionary to find the definition of the word, friend: It is a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection. I want to ask you this morning, do you have a friend?
You say: “Angus, I don’t have a friend.”

Well, to have a friend you need to be friendly. That is what the Bible says. We need to love one another like never before in the times in which we are living. Do you remember that old movie Crocodile Dundee? Do you remember when they were talking about psychologists? He said, “Where I come from in the outback, we don’t have psychologists, we have friends.” You know, it is possible to be lonely in a crowd. We really need to reach out to one another, loneliness is a killer.

This little message I send out to you every day - I got a report back - it saved one man’s life that I know of!

He was contemplating suicide, having lost his farm and his business and he listened to this message in the morning and he changed his mind, so we thank God for friends. So today, why don’t you phone somebody and just ask them, “How are you?” Send a text, a WhatsApp or pray for them. Make it personal, not a generalized message, call them by their name. People love to hear their names. Just say, “John, I have got your back.” “Susan, don’t worry. It is going to be all right!” People are mourning the loss of loved ones from COVID-19, some are still in the hospital. Just give them that phone call, tell them, “I am praying for you.”

You know, a couple of days ago on Sunday morning, I felt led just to call my immediate family together in the chapel because obviously, we cannot meet as a church at this point. At eight o’clock in the morning it was freezing, frost on the ground... still, we came together in the little chapel that my late dad and I built, in 1980.

Boys and girls, old people, young people and we had a prayer meeting. Well, I want to tell you that I have been to many prayer meetings in my life but that was one of the sweetest prayer meetings I have ever had the privilege of attending.

“How are you?
Do you have enough food?
Have you got firewood?
Do you have petrol for your motor car?”
Being concerned and loving one another!

Have a wonderful day as you become a friend to somebody.
God bless you and goodbye.