The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.
4 sermons cite this verse
Because the Bible says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Don't talk about them, talk to them. Don't post a comment on their post publicly for everyone to see. You have a relationship with them, text them directly. Call them directly. Better yet, sit down with them because a true friend stabs you in the front, not in the back. Go to them. And a lot of times we won't do this. We'll just let it fester and we'll become more angry. Now by the way, on this particular argument, Paul was in the right, I believe. But you wanna talk about these things because we'll gossip and spread information we don't even know if it's true. Matthew 18, 15 says, if another believer sins against you, go privately, point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses, you've won that person back. So I like to go to the person. I'm gonna get my facts straight. …
Because the Bible says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Open rebuke is better than secret love. So sometimes as a way of showing my love, I will say a critical thing, but I'll say it in the right way. I mean, if you're known for encouragement and compliments and affirmation, then when you bring your word of criticism, it will be received. But if you're known for negativity, hypercriticism, and meanness, when you come with another criticism, which may in a sense even be valid, it will not be received because you're Mr. or Miss negativity. Instead, we want to be Mr. or Miss encouragement, just like Barnabas. Many listeners write or call us sharing their stories of pain and loss, but also of hope. Pastor Greg, I wanted to share that not long ago, my brother and 10-year-old nephew died in a tragic house fire. The months that followed were a nightmare for me and my family. Even though we received much love and support from friends and family, it was still a very difficult time. …
… Proverbs 27, six says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. And so who in your life have you given permission? Hey, if you see something holding me back, will you let me know? Will you tell me? Will you call me out? And I wanna do the same for you. It's called accountability. And then the fifth benefit is collaboration. Collaboration is that sweet synergy. I think about the team that God has assembled for us to be even putting this project together as Wonder Project and as Fresh Life team, as well as Open Network team. We're all serving together and just the sweetness that comes from that. And so many different people all doing their different respective parts with excellence. It's happening at your church right now. You have the team. It's not just a pastor and the worship leaders, It's people running sound. It's people serving kids, serving in parking, getting the coffee ready, cleaning the room, designing things, working behind the scenes, Excel spreadsheets. …
… that is a true friend. Because the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. See a true friend will stab you in the front, not the back. Right? The Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love. So we do need to be accountable to one another. I think this is one of the reasons people church hop. Because people get their number. Hey man, I see you're still doing this thing. Why are you doing that? I'm feeling called to another church. Then they end up in the other church and people find out. Then they move to another church. Mind you have a story of a guy who was stranded on an island out in the middle of the ocean. They finally came and rescued him. saw that he had three buildings that he had built. Three. And so they asked him, well, three buildings? What are these buildings? He says, well, the first building, that's my house. …