53.

Winning the souls of the hated disciples

John 15:18-27

  • Session: 53
  • Week: 8
  • Day: 6
A4 Print PDF
Mobile PDF
Full Series PDF

Introduction

In this session John 15: 18-27. Jesus introduced the incidence of persecution for those who followed him. He sighted the reasons hatred will increase for the troubled disciples but also showed them how the presence of the Holy Spirit would help them to be productive in world Evangelism.

Objectives

By the end of this session the learner will have:

  • Identified the key opposition of our productivity as hatred
  • Appreciated the environment of love during the command to produce
  • Identified the partnership with divine in production

Outline

  • productivity and hatred
  • The role of the Holy Spirit during hatred
  • Hatred by the world

Group Study Time

John 15:18-27

Connecting

  • Gather with two or more people for a community discovery bible study session.
  • Start with a heartfelt prayer, inviting God to guide and bless your understanding.
  • Explore the passage by reading it at least twice, using different Bible versions if available, then retell the story together as a group.
  • Reflect and share the challenges and blessings you experienced from the previous study.

Comprehending

  • Identify and describe our main purpose of following Christ or being connected to him? Why were we chosen? John 15: 27, 16.
  • Read John 15: 18-27. What is the hatred of the believers in Christ? What is the source of our hatred? Why does the world hate us? How does world’s hatred affect our productivity?
  • Read John 15: 18-25. Identify three truths about hatred in these verses? What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit during world’s hatred of believers? John 15:26-27.

Committing

  • Engage with the Bible—read, study, memorize, meditate, pray, listen, and live it out.
  • List three lessons you have learnt as an agent of change that you would like to put into practice and teach others about.
  • Take time and worship Jesus with the attributes revealed about Christ.
  • Use the SPACEPETS model, to assist you in putting God’s word into practice. Look for:
    • Sin to confess
    • Promise to claim
    • Attitude to change
    • Command to keep
    • Error to change
    • Prayer to make
    • Example to copy
    • Truth to obey and
    • Something praiseworthy

Communicating

  • Identify one person you can connect with and share the valuable insights and lessons you gained from this session.
  • Reach out to a new believer—either in person or by phone—and pray with them to support them through their challenges, including any concerns about attending church.
  • Create a new group and guide others through this study to help them grow in their understanding.

Post Lesson Teaching Summary

Great job completing the study! Take a moment to listen to this summary to reinforce your group’s understanding of the text and ensure you’re all on the same page. We’re here to support your learning journey!

Winning the souls of the hated disciples

John 15:18-27

John 15:9-11, 18-27

  • Context:
    • The last night before Jesus’ death was a long, joyless, troubling night for the disciples, spanning John 14-19, especially 14-18 in under six hours.
    • Long nights reflect believers’ struggles (e.g., loss of job, loved ones, property, persecution for faith in places like DRC, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia).
  • Disciples’ Grief:
    • Jesus’ announcement of leaving caused misunderstanding, grief, and a sense of abandonment; joy drained from their hearts.
    • Jesus washed their feet as an act of love to reassure them, akin to a mother comforting a child.
  • Love and Joy (John 15:9-11):
    • Jesus affirmed His love: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you,” urging them to remain in His love by keeping His commands, mirroring His obedience to the Father.
    • Purpose: “So that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete”; their joy had leaked due to fear and shame.
    • Three levels of joy:
      • Joyless believers: No joy, heart emptied by trouble.
      • Joy of the Lord: Strength (Nehemiah 8:10) to rejoice despite adversity.
      • Complete joy: Overflowing, shown by bearing lasting fruit and testifying (John 15:16, 27).
  • Bearing Fruit and Testifying (John 15:16, 27):
    • Jesus chose and appointed disciples to bear fruit that lasts, enabling answered prayers in His name.
    • Testifying about Jesus, rooted in their time with Him, marks complete joy and overflows to others.
  • World’s Hatred (John 15:18-27):
    • Jesus warned: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first,” because disciples don’t belong to the world, chosen out by Him.
    • World (system opposing God) hated Jesus and the Father without cause, extending to disciples for following Him.
    • Persecution mirrors Jesus’ experience; obedience to His teaching brings the same response.
    • Hatred fulfills Scripture (“They hated me without a cause”); the world’s guilt is evident since Jesus’ works and words leave no excuse for sin.
  • Purpose of Teaching:
    • Introduced joy before hatred to sustain disciples; without joy, hatred could crush them, wasting Jesus’ three-and-a-half-year ministry.
    • Joy of the Lord equips believers to withstand worldly opposition targeting their faith, not them personally.