I recently made a server, everything works well 3 of my irl friends can get on perfect.

I can send commands but only through the gui.

Is there a way I can actually play on my server without only being able to type commands?

I go to multiplayer and type my ip and it tells me : Failed to connect to server,

connection refused:connect

Can I not play because it is my same ip?  is there anyway possible to get into game with them?

if so i cant ill have 2 delete it lol