The Holy Spirt in the World, in the Church (John 15:18-16:15)
Group Guides | Sharing the gospel, sharing our lives (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
By way of introduction: When you know there is a feeling of people being against you, even hate, how does that make you feel? What is your natural response?
Read John 15:18 - 16:15
The context of these words of Jesus to his disciples is that he has been talking about love (15:17) and now turns to the subject of hate. Why does Jesus say these things to his disciples? (16:1)
Let’s look closely at the work of the Holy Spirit in the world by reading 16:8-11 again, and discuss what He does and why it is He does this.
For the Holy Spirit to work in the world, He works in and through the church. Read 16:12-15 again, and discuss how and why He does this.
Even as the world hated Jesus and sent Him to the cross, Jesus pastors us by speaking to us about these things and the promise of the Holy Spirit so that we wouldn’t fall away. What difference does it make for our response to hate, that Jesus went into hate itself to change everything at the cross?
What difference does the Holy Spirit make to our ministry as a church, and for our evangelism?
Pray for our church to have a Christ-shaped, Spirit-empowerd supernatural response and ministry to a hateful world.
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Reforming is becoming a teenager, 13 years old!
On the first Sunday in February, 2013, Reforming Church launched with its first service of gathered worship. It was the day of small things, and we rejoiced.
Since then our testimony is that everything we have is a testimony to God’s grace. Even that we could plant a church, even that Reforming still exists as a local church, even that we have the blessings of Reforming House and being a family of God’s precious people. All of this is God’s grace to us.