Message Notes for March 17, 2024

Series: Identified

Title: Jesus As Friend

John 15:12-17 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

· How do I cultivate a friendship with Jesus?

· How does friendship with Jesus influence my other friendships?

· Can we be friends with Jesus and friends with the ‘World’? James 4:4-10

Romans 10:9-10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

You can’t develop a friendship without a relationship.

If we want friendship with Jesus, we need to walk in his ways and do what he commands.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

· Get outside yourself – As a friend of Jesus find your place and your role in God’s kingdom plan

Family/Group Study Notes for the week of March 17, 2024

Series: Identified

Title: Jesus As Friend

* Read John 15:10-17. Why do you think Jesus started this discussion of friendship with a command? The passage appears to be inviting us into a deeper, more productive and fruitful relationship with Jesus. Beyond servant to friend! Discuss some of the benefits of growing our relationship with Jesus deeper into friendship.

* What do you see as advantages of being an ‘insider’ to the things that Jesus heard from the Father and shares with his friends?

* Share your experiences, journey or even frustrations of trying to discern your place and your role in God’s plan of Salvation. How will a closer, deeper, friendship relationship with Jesus impact this?

* Why do we need a friend like Jesus?

* Matthew 22:37-40, Luke 6:27, John 13:34, John 15:12, Matthew 28:18-20. The Bible passages above are examples of commandments that Jesus gave us. Are there any themes?

* If you are studying alone, do you know any other commandments from Jesus? Can you find other commandments in Jesus’ own words? (Hint: Bible apps on your phone have a ‘Search’ function. Try Jesus commandments. Paper Bibles can be used with a Concordance to look up words)

* If studying with a group can you add, share and discuss these and other commandments from Jesus you have seen in God’s word? The same hint applies!

* Read James 4:4-10, John 15:19, 1 John 2:15-17, Galatians 6:14. Discuss why does being a friend to the world make us enemies of God? What creates the conflict?

* How can we live in this broken world but not be ‘of’ the world?