“I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. NOW YOU ARE MY FRIENDS, SINCE I HAVE TOLD YOU EVERYTHING THE FATHER TOLD ME.”

John 15 : 15

What it means to go to slave to friend:

“I’m no longer calling you servants because servants DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THEIR MASTER IS THINKING AND PLANNING. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve LET YOU IN ON EVERYTHING I’ve heard from the Father.”

John 15 : 15 (MSG)

You are a friend of Jesus if you allow Him to disciple you.

How do you honor your friends? You honor them by honoring their guardrails. You are not going to pull Jesus over or away from any of His guardrails. If you are not going to pull Jesus away from His standards, then that means if you don't have the same standards as your savior you are not heading in the same direction as He is. In order to have a intimate friend, you will probably have to share the same guardrails, even with fellow believers who are not heading in the same direction as you or the Word of God.

2 Thessalonians 3 : 6, 14 – 15

6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to KEEP AWAY FROM every BELIEVER who is IDLE and DISRUPTIVE and DOES NOT LIVE ACCORDING TO the teaching you received from us.

14 Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THEM, in order that they may feel ashamed.

15 Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but WARN THEM as you would a fellow believer.

For people who KNOW THE ‘TRUTH’ – KNOW what they ‘SHOULD’ BE DOING – but DON’T DO IT

Paul says, ‘Have No Fellowship With Them’ so that they feel the pain of the loss of their connection with you so that hopefully they will see their error and correct themselves and return to the fold. The goal is not to 'cancel' them, but to eventually restore them - build them up and strengthen them.

Initially it is your faith in Jesus that begins the relationship. But to become a friend of Jesus, the relationship must go deeper.

John 15 : 1 – 21

1 “I am the TRUE grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.

2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

3 YOU have ALREADY BEEN pruned and purified by the MESSAGE I have given you.”

An ‘ENCOURAGING WARNING’…

4 REMAIN IN ME, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

You are a ‘FRIEND’ of Jesus

If you ‘REMAIN’ IN HIM

In order to STAY IN a Relationship and KEEP IT HEALTHY & STRONG – It takes ‘WORK’

What is going to make it HEALTHY and INTIMATE is if – YOU FOLLOW THE SAME ‘TEACHING’ – ‘TRUTH’ – ‘VALUES’ – ‘MORALS’ – and ‘GUARDRAILS’

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, WILL PRODUCE MUCH FRUIT. For apart from me you can do nothing.

6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.

7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!

8 WHEN you PRODUCE MUCH FRUIT, you are my TRUE disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

You are a friend of Jesus if you produce fruit for the kingdom of God. You are a friend of Jesus if you obey his guardrails.

God’s Commandments:

· PROVIDE ‘BOUNDARIES’ & ‘GUIDANCE’

· HELP US in living a more PURPOSEFUL & INTENTIONAL LIFE

· PREVENT us from VEERING OFF COURSE

· PROTECT us FROM HARM and from HARMING OTHERS

· PROMOTE ‘WISDOM’

· ‘KEEP’ US IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE ‘WILL OF GOD’

Another ‘ENCOURAGING WARNING’…

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.

19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.

If you have the same guardrails as me, the world will treat you the same way it treated me, if and when they do, that is when you will know that you are on the right side of the guardrails.

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Here are some of the things that Jesus wouldn't compromise on. His guardrails to keep Him from wandering away from His relationship with His Heavenly Father.

Guardrails of Jesus:

1) TIME & PRAYER with His Father

2) OBEDIENCE to His Father

John 5:19 à Jesus ONLY DID WHAT HE SAW HIS FATHER DOING

John 12:49-50 à Jesus ONLY SAID WHAT HE HEARD HIS FATHER SAYING

He ‘FOLLOWED’ THROUGH – EVEN TO DEATH ON A TREE –

3) AVOIDING TEMPTATION

4) UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

5) DISCIPLING OTHERS

6) Never falling for satan’s lie that He was not enough.