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The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
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Love
Teaching Texts: John 15: 18-16:11
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me.None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with griefbecause I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Joy Complete – God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing us the way.
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Jesus has been sitting with His friends on the even of going to the cross, pouring out His heart to them
He warns them about the incredible resistance they will face.
There are systems and powers in the world that are bent against the things of God and the Kingdom of God - THE WORLD
“the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me too”
There is internal resistance in the disciples’ own lives that will entice them to fall away and will wrangle them in grief - THE FLESH
“I am telling you this so that you will not fall away.”
They will meet with outright spiritual resistance, accusation, deception, and temptation from a spiritual entity called here the ‘prince of this world.’ - THE DEVIL
Even though these blend and overlap, try to:
Name one system thats resists the kingdom of God in your life/world
Name one weakness of your flesh (internal to you) that resists the kingdom
Name one moment you thought there was specific spiritual resistance you encountered
Whatever else is happening here - Jesus is being honest with His friends about the resistance they are going to face living as disciples.
About the pain and difficulty
About the challenges
Some important questions and facts to consider in light of this are:
Why is it hard to follow Jesus?
How we can be helped in the midst of this resistance?
Why it is worth it.
What do you find hard about following Jesus?
Why do you think these things are so difficult?
What helps you most in the hardships of following Jesus?
What motivates you in the tough times?
FLESH may have good manners and even do nice things but its fundamental motivation and operation is the SELF.
The flesh is also craving, lust, violence, lost tempers, greed
It is trying to meet the deep needs of life and our soul without God
WORLD that is opposed to the KINGDOM OF GOD
SIGNS of THE KINGDOM :
Salvation/Deliverance
Righteousness and Justice
Peace
Joy
God’s Presence
Healing
Return from Exile
SIGNS OF THE WORLD:
The self-made person - identity through achievement
Accomplishment and wealth
Victory
Pleasure
Self-sufficiency and power
Cost of doing business - degradation, disease, pollution
Looking out for yourself and your group only
How can we be helped in the midst of this resistance?
A share in the Life of God through the Holy Spirit.
Listen
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” – John 15 v 26-27
No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that love is better than selfishness in bringing life and life to the full
No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that violence is not the way to peace
No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change greed and getting more and more doesn't satisfy the soul
No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that power doesn’t make you secure
No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that indigence, lust or workaholism doesn’t bring joy
The Spirit will show the difference between sin and true life
The Spirit will show there are spiritual realities we cannot change
WHY IT IS WORTH IT? - to deal with this resistance
Our present is lived in friendship with Jesus - His spirit testifies with our spirit
We can endure in the way of Jesus - die to the way of the world
Our future is united with Jesus
