Q1. Friend of Sinners

[Pastor Ralph]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

[IvoryEagle]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

OBVIOUSLY, WE ALL HAVE FALLEN SHORT AND NEED JESUS AS OUR SIN.  As for others who are deep in sin, if it is so deep that I can see it; it is unlikely that I will come close enough to impact them other than by my own behavior.

[JanMary]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners?

 

​I'm very thankful! I'm a sinner saved only by His Grace. Because He's a friend of sinners, He sought me out, hunted me down, embraced me right where I was, lost and stuck in the mire, and asked me if I would receive His lovely gift of redemption and salvation. I'm thankful every single day!

 

How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

​I remember that I am His love letter "written on hearts of flesh, not of stone", and look for opportunities to share His love with each one I am with, as was "done unto me!" (In my case the actual invitation came via a Christian radio station as I was driving to church, oblivious to the fact that I needed to be born again, not just "religious" and "doing good works" to try to earn a place in Heaven.
 

[charisbarak]

For me, it means He came seeking me and desiring to save me!!  Oh, the love of God.....

I can be the best friend to sinners by showing them the way of salvation too!!

[blezed]

(Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?  

Jesus is the Friend of Sinners means to me that he though enough of me to want to save me.  Friends are friends until you need something or you fall on bad times.  No matter what my position in life, my cultural or how much I had sinned, he did not abandon me.  

 

Jesus sets the example.  The love He has for me, to want to save me, should be reflected in my relationship with others.  I should share the Good News and continue to remind them that Jesus is the answer. 

[Jen]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

It means everything to me that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners.   That meant He was and is and ever will be a friend of mine.  And "I once was lost and now am found, twas blind but now I see" because He is a Friend of Sinners.  My life radically changed because He is The Friend of Sinners.

 

Pray for those who don't know Him and be a witness through word and deed.

 

God Bless!

Jen

Numbers 6:24-26

[haar]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

A. Because Jesus is a friend of siners, I personally am one who by grace was saved and delivered by my Friend the Lord Jesus Christ from sin and its penalty of spiritual death

A. Just like Jesus loved me and died for me, I should love singers and lead them to Christ.

[JeannieG]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners?

 

My Answer: It means Jesus is MY friend, even though He knows I am a sinner in my own power. In His power, I am set free from the punishment of sin, cleaned by His blood.

 

How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

My Answer: Jesus is the Judge. I am equally guilty of sin and have no right to judge others. My relationship with others should be centered on what Jesus would do with and for them. My relationship with others should be inspired by the Holy Spirit, through my prayers and obedience.

[Commissioned]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

Personally I am happy that Jesus answered the call and came to the earth to be Savior of the world and that includes being my Savior as the Friend of sinners.  Saving me from my sins and giving me the inheritance of eternal life.  Beause of what Jesus has done for me and the gift to the whold world, I am called to present the oospel to people who re deep in sin.

[Annelle]

(Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

Personally it means the world to me as I am still but a sinner. I sin everyday and am nothing without God and His abounding Grace. And the little word friend is very important to me as the God and Creator of the whole universe is saying in His holy book that He is my Friend. That is amazing.

 

You should treat other sinners with mercy and grace as Jesus is not only your Friend but theirs too.

[Debra Grant]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and 

to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally 

that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect

your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

1. I believe what Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a 

doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous,

but sinners to repentance.'" (Luke 5:30-32)

 

1. It should make me want to be an example so that they can

see the God and his shining light in me. I should be a witness

to them.

[pickledilly]

Praise to God that we sinners, separated from His holiness and eternal glory on our own, have a Friend who has come to rescue us! Without Jesus, I personally would have been lost to God forevermore with no hope of reconciliation. Jesus, my Friend, has reached out to this most unworthy one and laid down His own life in place of mine in order to redeem me from destruction. There is no one else who could or would have done such a thing. And even more amazing is that He did this when my heart was closed to Him, before I understood my desperate need and hopeless future. Jesus is a loving and loyal Friend.

 

This should affect my relationships with people who are still lost in the darkness of sin and can't see their need for Someone to save them. In Christ, I am Jesus' ambassador and representation on earth. I am to speak His words and be His hands. I am to demonstrate His higher love to the unlovely. We aren't called to place ourselves in harm's way or cultivate close personal relationships with people who are deep in sin, but the example of Jesus is to reach out to them with genuine love and respect in order to share truth.

[lighthouse2014]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

Jesus being a friend of sinners comforts me because I am definitely a sinner who needs Jesus to be my savior.

This helps me to relate to other people, we are sinners who need a savior. I can share my experience of Jesus with them.    

[hanks]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) 

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. 

What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? 

How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

Being a sinner I owe everything to my Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

Without His love, grace, and mercy there would be no future for me after death. 

He perfectly fulfilled God's desire for mercy as well as sacrifice.

Since we have all sinned (Rom 3:23) and deserve only death (Rom 6:23); yet for all who believe in Him, God offers us as a free gift of eternal life. 

We have to acknowledge that we are sinners, repent and put our trust in Him.

We have to come in faith, getting rid of our pride, and self-righteousness trusting in Him with our whole being and not leaning on our own understanding (Prov 2:5-6).

Having done this, I know I will be spending eternity with Him!

What a glorious prospect!

I don’t think people realise the danger they are in by not accepting the offer, or even perhaps that there is a free offer available.

So, there is an urgent need to spread the Gospel.

 

[Taz]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

 

Once, long ago, I very nearly drowned in Tampa Bay. Swimming there with my husband, I was caught in an undertow, as was he, and we were being drawn out away from shore and away from each other.

Fortunately, we both remembered what we had been taught and escaped a terrible death.

 

As as I think back to that day, the words to a wonderful old hymn of testimony comes to mind....

"I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more; But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now safe am I"

(Smith/Rowe)

 

As small child, while I believed in GOD and believed that Jesus was the Son of GOD, I didn't understand how that was nor did I have any understanding of the Holy Spirit.

I would hear grownups say thing like, "be good now, Jesus is watching" or "GOD wants you to be a good little girl", the trouble was, being good was no fun!!

 

And I wanted to have fun. So I kept my belief in GOD and in Jesus in a compartment within me.

 

As I grew up, my life was my own, I did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. But I never ceased believing in GOD, in Jesus, still keeping them in that compartment.

 

I knew kids who were Christians and I did not want to be like them. Having to give up playing on Sunday to go to church....how boring!!

But somewhere along there just as I was about to become a teenager, I was introduced to Jonah and the "great fish." (Jonah 1:17)

I was intrigued by the story but it began to haunt me, not like ghostly haunt, but I began to think of my own life as a life like Jonah's.....spent running from GOD.

Years later I would read C. S. Lewis' words about his own resistance to Christ as he said, feeling "the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired NOT to meet" and I understood exactly what he had felt!

A most reluctant Christian, but fully aware of "that LOVE which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, with darting eyes in every direction for a chance of escape!" (Lewis)

That was me!!

 

When He drew me, drew my heart into Him, there was no resistance left in me even as I was shown by the Holy Spirit the darkness and sin that was in me.

In less time than it took to take a breath I saw myself as He saw me, and I knew that unless I received Him totally, I was dead.

 

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: "And I thank Christ Jesus our LORD Who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our LORD was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to GOD Who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (2 Timothy 1:12-17)

 

I was one of those who walked in insolence and by my behavior I blasphemed GOD as my Creator. And not out of ignorance or unbelief, but out of pride and I knew that pride was like an anchor, keeping me stuck in a whirlpool of sin.

Someone once said, "Pride leads to every other vice; It is the complete anti-GOD state of mind."

 

Yet His grace was "exceedingly abundant" and I know that His longsuffering toward me kept me alive!

I could actually feel His grace, almost like a warm soothing bath. His grace was indeed "sufficient" for me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

And it continues to this day.

 

"Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves; He will lift you by His love out of the angry waves. He's the Master of the sea, billows His will obey; He your Savior wants to be, be saved today!" (Smith/Rowe)

 

Over the years I have become acquainted with who I am IN Christ. Wanting above all to serve Him, I began to seek His wisdom and felt a definite pull of my heart towards the lost. As I am certain that His return is eminent, I am just as certain that each person I meet has a "destination", that is, either heaven or hell. 

Knowing that, it is all the more of a burden on my heart that His gospel be shared with everyone I meet, as His Spirit gives the opportunity.

There is no time to waste!

[van]

I thank God, Jesus seek and saved me when I was lost. If it hadn't been for Jesus I would still be living in sin. It is a joy to know that Jesus is a friend of sinners! Our relationship with people who are in deep sin, should be is to introduce them to Jesus Christ. He loves them and is the only one who can save them from whatever sin they are in. It is no sin to great for Jesus to forgive.

[Neil]

It's amazing that the Creator of our very complex universe should become a human being,
to be a Friend to me, a sinner, and to all peoples throughout the ages. But to me?
Yes, and more than a friend....the Saviour who took my sins to the cross.
His love for me produces love in me for others, but I have to fight against my
prejudices. Who am I to judge others, to quote Pope Francis.

[alimaespa]

As a sinner I owe everything to my Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

Without His love, grace, and mercy there would be no future for me after death. 

He perfectly fulfilled God's desire for mercy as well as sacrifice.

Since we have all sinned (Rom 3:23) and deserve only death (Rom 6:23); yet for all who believe in Him, God offers us as a free gift of eternal life. 

We have to acknowledge that we are sinners, repent and put our trust in Him.

We have to come in faith, getting rid of our pride, and self-righteousness trusting in Him with our whole being and not leaning on our own understanding (Prov 2:5-6).

Having done this, I know I will be spending eternity with Him!

What a glorious prospect!

I don’t think people realise the danger they are in by not accepting the offer, or even perhaps that there is a free offer available.

So, there is an urgent need to spread the Gospel

[Stanley Tavaziva]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

Despite the fact that Zacchaeus was both a cheater and a turncoat, Jesus loved him; and in response, this tax collector was converted.Jesus came to seek and to save the los. In this world we are living we have different groups of people like the “untouchable” because of their political views, their immoral behavior, or their life-style. We should not give in to social pressure to avoid these people. Jesus loves them, and they need to hear his Good News. Jesus loves sinners, Jesus came to save all the lost no matter what their background or previous way of life. Through faith, the lost can be forgiven and made new.

 

Jesus condemned the attitude of his generation. No matter what he said or did, they took the opposite view. They were cynical and skeptical because he challenged their comfortable, secure, and self-centered lives. Too often we justify our inconsistencies because listening to God may require us to change the way we live. We should love and bring those in deep sin to Christ. Show them and tell them Jesus is Lord and He loves them even they are in deep sin.
 

 

[Old Jerry]

The meaning to me that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners is that Jesus gave his life for my sins and that is the only way that I will be admitted to heaven. The affect that my relationship with people who are deep is sin is to pray for them and every time I get an opening to tell them about what has Jesus done for us.

[linda bass]

What it means to me personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners is, He loved me enough to shed His blood on the cross and to take the punishment for my sins that I deserved.

How it should affect our relationships with people who are deep in sin is, we need to remember Jesus died for them as well and they also need a Savior.

[Godswriter]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

For me personally it means that He is the one who can heal my deepest wounds and also can forgive my sins and cleanse me of my past and make me clean and help me heal. He can do what what no one other God can do which is pick up my shattered life and put it back together after sin has affected it. It should cause me to spread the Gospel wherever I go and tell them that there is hope for them and their sin filled life. 

[Lottie]

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin?

It means that Jesus is my friend because I was a sinner before He saved me. I was lost but He found me. He forgave me of all my sins and He loves me. He wants to spend time with me and He wants me to come to know Him and trust in Him. He paid a great price for my salvation; death on the cross and humiliation and shame. 

It should mean that I want to lead others to Him. He is the only one who can save us. I should have a heart of compassion for them and want to tell them what He has done for me. Yet I often have trouble in this very area. Fear rears its' ugly head a lot.

[MICHELLE OXLEY]

The Names of Jesus.docx

[MosesSole]

On 12/10/2015 at 2:32 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 11:19) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. What does it mean to you personally that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners? How should it affect your relationships with people who are deep in sin? I think it would be near impossible not become a friend to sinners since we are all with sin. It's a beautiful theory to come to save those that are lost, but I wonder how attainable the goal is. To save a sinner, that person has to be willing to repent of their ways, and in many cases people don't fully repent. If the lost sheep is deep in sin that is in violation of God's Laws and Man's Law-- murder and theft for ex-- can they be saved?  Should they be saved if they do not change their ways? Because without atonement and justice for the injured, it's essentially Jesus emboldening sinners to continue sinning against their neighbors. And there is no love in that.

I personally would not feel comfortable being around someone who has killed and robbed from their fellow neighbors because I would feel unsafe.  If the person continues to rob and assault, I would seriously question why they are worth saving. There's a phrase, birds of the same feather flock together. I would not want to be sharing bread with those that pursue evil over good because others might see me as an evil enemy of the state.  

I'm also of the culture that places high value in the authorities of the state and we're very respectful of the laws that govern our state. I would not want to live in a society in which I am being asked to forgive and forget those that hurt and steal from others.  I believe that wrongs should be righted and that those who violate the sanctity of laws must face consequences. If one is of the mindset that all wicked acts can be forgiven without due punishment, then it's the belief that wickedness should prevail over the righteous. There's no logic in this.