Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, May 2nd.

Scripture tells us, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise.

Today, you'll hear about the value of good Christian friends.

I think when you look in the Bible and just think back beginning in the book of Genesis, for example,

remember that when God made the creation,

everything he made, he says it's good until he got to one thing. When he saw that Adam was alone

and did not have someone on his level to fellowship with and to be a friend to, God said that's not good.

The only thing he saw in all of his creation that was not good

was not what he had done, but what he had not done up until that time. What he had not done was to

provide Adam with another person whom he could fellowship with and whom he could love. So that the very

family itself says something about our need to love each other.

God has so arranged humanity that all of us do have and can have someone to love and someone

to love us in return. That is, we need a friend. We need fellowship one with the other.

Now, God's design in friendship, ultimately, is always the building of each other into Christ's likeness. That's his total design. That's what he wants to happen because, you see, if I build you and you build me, both of us are built up. When you get two committed Christians who are genuine friends, I mean real friends, you've got two people, each of whom has someone to help

build him up into Christ's likeness. Now, it is difficult to live a Christian life in the world in which

we live. You say to me time after time, you don't know how it is

where I work. You don't know how it is where I live. You don't know how it is where I go to school.

Well, maybe I don't, but I know that there is somebody there who can be your friend. There's

somebody there who can be a helper to you, someone with whom you can talk together. Not always agree, but talk

together and fellowship together, someone who can be your partner in growing up into Christ's

likeness. Now, I believe the pattern here for this is found in this passage. For Jesus had been

talking about the vine branch relationship and the fact that you and I have branches,

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