WELCOME ICEBREAKER

Where do you find your friends?

WORSHIP

Take to time to worship God for redeeming us and granting us His Holy Spirit, who is the closest friend you will ever find. Choose songs that talk of God’s love for us.

WORD

We know that as a people of God we are to live a life that reflects Jesus Christ our Lord. We are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may claim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Friends influence us and give us directions in life. Friends will welcome each other's companionship and show loyalty towards each other. Their flavour will typically be alike, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also connect through similar behaviour, such as exchange of information and the sharing of adversity. However for a lot of people, friendship is nothing more than the hope and trust that someone will not harm them, but be there in good and bad times. Therefore, we are to choose our close friends carefully, those people who we allow to enter into our private life, and give us advice and guidance.

Have your group look up the following verses and review how to build and keep healthy friendships:

1. Have you been hurt by any of your close friends before, and what do you do when that happens? (Colossians 3:13; Ephesians 4:32)
2. Do you usually take the initiative to approach people at gatherings or do you wait for others to come to you?  (Proverbs 18:24 )
3. What attributes do you think are important to making friends? Consider the following verses. (Matthew 7:1, Proverbs 20:19, Proverbs 27:10, Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 13:20, Proverbs 17:9)
4. Do you associate with unbelievers or only Christians? (Matthew 11:19; Matthew 5:13-16)
5. Do you get hurt when your friends start to change or do you accept the change and move on? (Ecclesiastes 3:1,5b)
6. Do you choose your friends carefully with the help of the Holy Spirit? (Proverbs 13:20)
7. Do you set boundaries in your relationships? Can you say no to your close friends, when you recognize that your boundaries are being crossed?

WORK

Pray for knowledge and discernment from God, regarding the circle of friends that you are in now and those who will come into your life in the future.