The Gift Of Friendship – Philippians 2:19-30

What this episode covers

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Outline with Blanks Completed Outline Scroll to 21:30 for the sermon Philippians 2:19-30 Well, one of the ways that he revives us again is by living in community, because the Christian life is not designed to be lived alone. And you get isolated in your Christian Walk, it’s going to become discouraging. And that’s one of the reasons why we gather together here on a Sunday morning to not only to worship, but to encourage one another. Well, let me read from Ecclesiastes chapter 4, 9 through 12 and this is what Solomon writes about two being better than one. Verses 9 through 12, two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. We’re going to dive into the gift of friendship this morning in the book of Philippians. Well, we’ve been journeying through the book of Philippians, and we’re going to conclude chapter two this morning. There’s four chapters in the book of Philippians. The first couple chapters are longer than the last two, so we’ll probably be about 60 percent of our way through the book of Philippians. And so, this morning we’re going to think about the gift of friendship, the gift of friendship. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the TV series Friends. Very popular TV series on NBC. It was from 1994 to 2004. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched the whole episode of it to be honest with you, but you’ve probably seen Friends. It followed the lives of six young people. They were in their 20’s and 30’s. They lived in New York City. You’ll be familiar with some of these names. Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Lebak, the late Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. In its eighth season, it was the top-rated TV show in all of television. Won 62 Emmy Awards. Its final season finale, which was May 6, 2004, so it’s been in reruns for 20-some years, was the fifth most watched TV series finale in TV history. 52 and a half million people watched that last episode of Friends. And when I say that I know you’re dying to know what were the other top four, so I threw that in as well. So here it is. Number four was Seinfeld. Number three, the top-rated last show of the series was The Fugitive. Number two was Cheers. I know somebody knows number one. What do you think? M.A.S.H. It was M.A.S.H. 105.9 million people watched that last episode of M.A.S.H. Now I hope you’re going to get more from the sermon than talking about that afterwards, so that’s just extra. So, in our passage this morning in Philippians chapter 2, and we’re going to be looking at, I believe verses 19-30, we’re introduced to two of Paul’s friends. They were not only friends, but they were also ministry partners. One name we’re familiar with, the other name maybe not so much, but it’s Timothy and Epaphroditus. Timothy and Epaphroditus. So, this morning we want to think about a couple of main points here. Here’s the first one. Genuine friends. I’m not talking Facebook friends. You go on Facebook and someone’s got 2,500 friends. 1. Genuine friends are a gift from God Those aren’t all your friends. I’m talking about genuine friends are a gift from God. Genuine friends are a gift from God. James 1:17 says, every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above. So, if you have some genuine friends in your life, you’re blessed. They’re God’s gift to you and they enrich our lives. The passage we read in Ecclesiastes that Solomon wrote tells us what some of the benefits of friends are. Well, you can get more work done. Two people can accomplish more than one. As we go through that passage that we read, when you’re in need, there’s som

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