Prep+ Podcast #2
00:00:00:36 - 00:00:25:50
Unknown
Welcome. You're listening to the Prep Plus podcast. This is on study two of our Holy Spirit series. Looking at John 1526 to 27. We're seeking to equip and energise you as a great, great leader to have a wonderful time with your group looking at this part of the Bible. And that's our prayer for this study. But, Owen, you write these studies and we can turn to page two and say the big prayer for this particular study.
00:00:25:55 - 00:00:52:18
Unknown
What are we shooting at with this time together? And, and would you pray for us as well? Absolutely. We're thinking about our witness and the Holy Spirit's help in our witness, his witnessing in the world through us and through his, through the 11 that he's speaking to at the time. So why don't we pray then? Loving father, please help us to be active and bold in our witness.
00:00:52:22 - 00:01:12:15
Unknown
Knowing your help, you have promised to help us as we witness and we see in this passage connection between the witness that we have to the world and the Holy Spirit as work in the world. So please help us to trust him and to look to him and to have his help and to rely on him. And we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
00:01:12:19 - 00:01:33:39
Unknown
Amen. I feel like this study has a real opportunity to be so helpful. We can feel really intimidated by witnessing or talking about Jesus. And yet there's so much comfort, in this promise, we're looking at the third of the five promises that Jesus gives to his disciples about the Holy Spirit. If you haven't listened to the first plus podcasts, maybe your co-leader led that study.
00:01:33:39 - 00:01:50:30
Unknown
It could be worth you going back and listening to that one. And if you haven't already, why don't a pause and prep run through these questions, yourself so that you can do the digging around for yourself? We're not going to give you all the answers, but we do want to. Yeah, just energise you and equip you for this time with your group.
00:01:50:34 - 00:02:06:43
Unknown
Because it is helpful to remember that these promises were given in a particular context. Even if it is such a big unit talking about the Holy Spirit, if it's helpful for your group, you may want to flag to them that the Bible reading guide alongside this time is actually looking at the whole section of John 12 to 17.
00:02:06:57 - 00:02:24:18
Unknown
So it gets the kind of big block while we're really zooming in on the small blocks of the promises. Now, one question that intrigued me from these ones is when I'm over on page ten in the Dig Deeper question, you have this question on how are the two? It's the second point. How are the two witnesses connected?
00:02:24:18 - 00:02:47:25
Unknown
And you say, see also Mark 13 and acts one eight. What might be what kind of discussion might we get going? Well, you can see 26 where he talks about he will bear witness. The spirit will bear witness. This is John. John 15. The spirit will bear witness. And you also will bear witness. He's talking then to the 11, because you have been with me from the beginning.
00:02:47:25 - 00:03:11:28
Unknown
Remember the table from last week. If you remember the study where we were trying to work out? Well, which of these promises are to us directly to us as we live in the 21st century, and which are specific to those 11 that are with Jesus? And clearly that night. Yeah, on that night, clearly this language of you have been with me from the beginning is very important.
00:03:11:33 - 00:03:29:02
Unknown
And I love how you put in that axe reference there, because I feel like that is the language when they need to pick a new apostle, and they pick Matthias. But I feel like it almost echoes that language. They're looking for someone who was there from the beginning, who saw the whole, you know, not his birth. They I mean, that would have really cut down.
00:03:29:12 - 00:03:59:43
Unknown
They saw his baptism from the baptism, the baptism following, three and that it's just we're flagging that sometimes there's language around. There's apostles today, that there's new apostles. And I think the passages like these passages like acts one, so where we have a privileged position as disciples, but, we're not apostles. That was those particular people set apart who did with their own eyes, see the work of Jesus and were given, by him.
00:03:59:43 - 00:04:22:08
Unknown
That message to pass on. It's those original witnesses. I love these leave it out questions. So on you, you recognise that sometimes it is hard to witness to Jesus. Even in Australia, we don't we don't kind of perhaps have the same persecution that we might have elsewhere. What would be some helpful directions to take some of those discussions?
00:04:22:08 - 00:04:42:31
Unknown
We're often we can feel guilty about, you know, not doing enough or how does this part of the Bible help us? That's right. The context is really important. He he has just been speaking. If you read back in chapter 15 about, 1518 following the verses that precede, this promise, he's talking about the hatred of the world.
00:04:42:36 - 00:05:08:08
Unknown
He's talking about the hatred, hating the world. He uses language as servants no greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. They keep my word. They will also keep yours. Yes, he's talking to the 12, but it expands wider than that, doesn't it? That we mustn't be surprised that witness to the Lord Jesus, to a hostile world, will will bring out opposition.
00:05:08:13 - 00:05:31:58
Unknown
And that's, I hope, even in the word witness, like you witness when you're in court, you know, like as in you witness when there is opposition. And I think I always fall for the lie of that. Yeah, I know that. Jesus didn't you know, it wasn't the most popular person because of what he said. But maybe I can find a way to be bold as a Christian and everybody like me and and I think that's just this.
00:05:32:09 - 00:05:56:12
Unknown
This really shows that that's not going to be the case. You know, I have to kind of kill that dream. You might want to honour. Oh, well, that they are not called to pull back from the world. They are called to be active in witnessing to this world. And as they witness to the world, there will be people who we saved who will come to, to to faith in the Lord Jesus.
00:05:56:16 - 00:06:17:53
Unknown
There will be those who will keep their word, will listen to their word and hear it as God's Word. That's a handful, because I think we just zoom in on the negative. We just think, I'm just going to get shut down for this. We don't think about the positive. Some of some people are waiting, actually prepared by the spirit to to hear this and to to keep that word, to hold on to it for the rest of their lives.
00:06:17:58 - 00:06:34:27
Unknown
You might want to in these questions. We're not going to kind of escape from the world by. Well, maybe we are going to form a little holy huddle and withdraw. But I wonder if we we try to escape by keeping our mouth shut. Yeah. And yet we have the words of eternal life, Jesus's words. So I.
00:06:34:28 - 00:06:55:01
Unknown
This is a real challenge to me. This is a challenge to me as I think about this. And so as a leader, like, let's model this, let's be be bold, let's be real. Let's be real about what we find hard and what we try. And you might want to because this theme does come up kind of again and again in this series, you might want to kind of check in on this each week.
00:06:55:06 - 00:07:19:16
Unknown
One where you could find these questions is actually to break into pairs and highlight what are the particular challenges that you're facing. With what environment do you find it most difficult to witness about Jesus and maybe get people to share and in pairs about that. And then you could, if someone wants to be challenged and held accountable, like, actually want to be bold with my family, you could check in and and hold them accountable and cheer them on in that overcoming weeks.
00:07:19:21 - 00:07:31:12
Unknown
Again, if you've got a kind of questions about the Holy Spirit page going in your group, you might want to revisit that this week, see if they were questions answered by the sermon saying if there are new questions to come. But we hope that that will be a really helpful study for your group.