Friends of Jesus – Jesus Calls His disciples friends

• Friends of Jesus
• John 15:13-15
• God made us with a need for friends
• God has friends and desires us to have good friends, and to be His friends
• Abraham
• James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
• Abraham
• Isaiah 41:8 "But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend.
• Abraham
• 2 Chronicles 20:7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?.
• Friends of this world
• James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• Friends of this world
• Romans 12:2 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
• God wants to transform us into a new person
• We are either conforming to the world or being transformed by the will of God
• God wants us pure
• James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
• Jesus calls His disciples friends
• John 15:13-15 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
• Friends obey Him
• John 15:14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
• Friends obey Him
• John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
• Friends obey Him
• John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
• Friends obey Him
• John 12:48-50 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."
• Friends obey Him
• Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 14:23-26 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 8:34-36 Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 17:1-3 Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 17:14-1 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
• We do His will as friends, not slaves
• John 17:20-21 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
• Jesus chose us as friends to bear fruit
• John 15:2-5 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit…4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
• Jesus chose us as friends to bear fruit
• John 15:6-8 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
• Jesus chose us as friends to bear fruit
• John 15:6-8 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
• Jesus chose us as friends to bear fruit
• John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
• Jesus lays down His life for His friends
• John 15:12-13 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
• Jesus lays down His life for His friends
• John 10:15-18 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."