Friendship is a wonderful blessing in life. God created us to be connected with others and with Him. He created us to be social with one another as family and friends in relationship together. Friendships are a wonderful gift that add so much good into our life experience. Any person that has close friends truly has a blessed life. Good friends that encourage us to be better people are truly a gift from God in our journey of life. Friendship is worthy of being celebrated, and that is our intention here today. The best friend anyone could ever have is Jesus Christ. He did for us what no other person could ever do in His death on the cross for our sins. He made it possible for each of us to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins in order to live with Him eternally in Heaven. He suffered in our place for our sins. He had no sin of His own, so He could take our place in the payment of death for sin. When we enter into relationship with Him as our personal Saviour by faith in Him and His sacrifice for our sins, we are gifted His righteousness so that we can have an eternal relationship with the Creator God as His child forever. Jesus is a friend that literally laid down His life for those who will become His friend. Our sin puts us at odds with God in His holiness as His enemies, but when we are cleansed of our sins and made righteous in Christ we are reconciled in a right relationship with the Holy God of eternity. A true friend cares enough about us to speak truth to us even when we do not want to hear it, and that truly is what Jesus does for us. He tells us that we are loved, but our sin keeps us from enjoying that love. He also tells us that He has the solution to our sin problem so we can enjoy His love in our lives. Jesus is the best friend anyone can have here in this life and in eternity. If you have not entered into an eternal friendship with Jesus in your life, then today is the best day to get that settled. There is no better way to celebrate International Friendship Day than to receive the best Friend you could ever have into your life forever.