GSCC Small Group 06-01-07

John 14:15-21

 15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him

1. Is it easier for you to love the Father or to love Jesus? Why?
2. How do you love Jesus? Would we obey his command if we love him? (response of trust to his love; know that his commands are for our own good, ...)
3. How do Jesus’ disciples “see” him when the world can not? (in the Holy Spirit)
4. Read verse 18. Describe how would you feel if Jesus left you? How would that make you feel like an orphan?
5. Read verse 20. What does it mean that Jesus is in me? What does it mean that I am in Jesus? Read John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;”
6. Read verse 21 and John 15:10 “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.” What is the relationship between Jesus’ command and Father’s command? What is the relationship between Jesus’ love and Father’s love? Reflect on question 1 and explain why it is easier to obey Jesus’ command, and why God intends for us to know Him in Jesus.