CONNECT: In what ways can you see God’s strength at work through your weaknesses?.

WARM-UP  Question  

1. How have you felt during this time of physical separation and partial closure of many aspects of community? Has there been any point in which you felt alone?
2. Can you think of another time in which you felt alone? When was it? Did anything bring you comfort?

READ John 16:1-5a

1. What did Jesus tell the disciples would happen to them?
2. Why did Jesus tell the disciples what would happen to them?
3. How is the promise to send the Holy Spirit connected what Jesus says here? (see John 15:26-27)
4. How can followers of Jesus be tempted to act when they experience persecution and hardship? How do you want to react when you undergo difficult times?
5. Have you been ‘persecuted’ for you faith? Share your experiences with the group.
6. What has helped you - particularly at this time - to keep connected to Jesus? What do you think would be helpful to pursue more?

READ John 16:5b-15

1. Why must Jesus return to the Father, and how will this benefit the disciples (and us!)?
2. What is the primary ministry of the Spirit to the world (non-believers)? Is this still relevant today?
3. In what three areas does Spirit convict the world? How is the world wrong about these three areas?
4. How do believers participate in this ministry of conviction? Think about the example of Acts 2.
5. Even though this is not the focus of this passage, how does the Spirit continue to convict disciples of Jesus today?
6. Why can’t the disciples bear to hear all that Jesus had to tell them? Why was it so troubling to them?
7. What is the ministry of the Spirit to believers today?
8. What will the Spirit teach and to whom will the Spirit point? Why is this significant?
9. What does it mean for Jesus to be “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6)? How does the Spirit help us to comprehend this? 
10. How is the Spirit linked with the sending out of the disciples to the ends of the earth?
11. How does the Spirit help us to reach the one person we have been praying for?

APPLY:  How does the Holy Spirit shape your prayers and actions this week?

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On Your Frontline This Week: Join us this Wednesday from 7am - 8am for our Work + Faith Monthly Meeting, where we talk and pray about following Jesus at work.

For Families: Download some of the family resources to use at home

Listen:          

• AUDIO: “Holy Spirit” by Dick Lucas
• AUDIO: “The Holy Spirit and Salvation” by Paul Dale
• AUDIO: “John 16” by Christopher Ash
• AUDIO: “Witness to Outsiders” by Simon Manchester

Read:

• ARTICLE: “Joy has an address” by Matt Smethurst
• BOOK: “God and the Pandemic” by NT Wright (available soon)
  

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