Saturday, August 8, 2015

Christ is the Key to the Riddle of the Universe. He is the Creator! Christ is the Key to Forgiveness, Healing and Prosperity. He suffered, bled and died on the Cross as Jehovah's Paschal Lamb! He is our Saviour, Healer and Blesser. Christ is the Key to Eternal Life. He arose from the dead and is the Resurrection and the Life! - Pastor Max Solbrekken

ABBA FATHER: WE ARE
FRIENDS OF JESUS
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
     “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever, I command you.” (John 15: 14). During my 1968 Norway crusades, I learned that nearly all Evangelical Churches there were 
called Friends: Free Friends, Pentecostal Friends, Evangelical Friends, etc.
    Another unique thing was hearing people who were blessed by my Message, saying Abba Father, instead of the usual Amen.
    Abba is the transliteration of the Aramaic word for father. It was used by Jesus Christ during His awful trial in the garden of Gethsemane just before going to the CROSS  to die in our place!
    It means papa or daddy, but as  used in the New Testament in conjunction with Father, it is not only personalized but spoken in reverence and respect. The double title of Abba and Father shows intimacy and dignity!
     Being the Son of God, Jesus was intimate with His Father and as a man He prayed that the CUP would pass from Him, but He  knew that He must drink the bitter cup and do the Will of His Father, Who had sent Him!
     The Bible says:  "And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said Abba, Father all things are possible  unto Thee, take away this CUP from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but what Thou wilt." (Mark 14: 35, 36)
      St. Paul used those those two words Abba, Father in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians teaching us that the same Holy Spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth is also in us crying out to our Heavenly Father, and that we can have the same intimacy with Him as Jesus had.
       “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of Bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness that we are the Children of God.”
       “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the Adoption of Sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal.4: 4-6)
NO LONGER SLAVES, BUT FRIENDS!
     Jesus called His disciples friends! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 
     "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants (slaves); for the servant (slave) knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you Friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15: 13-15)
      Abraham was the only man whom God called His friend, because he trusted the Almighty completely and was willing to give up the best he had to answer the call of God! The Holy Bible states:
      “And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2: 23)
     St. John made this emphatic statement regarding our access to God our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ His resurrected Son and our Saviour:
      "For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1: 2, 3)
WE MUST OBEY THE MASTER!
      Jesus called His disciples, friends! By the power of the Holy Spirit we are are able to walk with Him and He will call us His friends. We must, however, do whatsoever He has commanded us to do!
     Here is the injunction of the Lord in the matter of receiving Eternal Life: “This then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in DARKNESS, we lie and do not the Truth.
     “But if we walk in the Light as He is in the LIGHT, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:5-7). Amen.