You do not belong to the world (John 15:18 - 16:15)

The Lord Jesus knows what lays ahead for His disciples. The world will hate them because they first hated Him. The world has no room in their heart for the Lord Jesus or for His Father. And so, Jesus speaks to His disciples, to encourage them and also to warn them of the trials that lay ahead. Trials so hard that even people will look to harm and kill them, thinking that they are doing God's work. There will be times in history of severe rejection of Jesus that will cause His disciples to suffer. And as Jesus gives these final words before He Himself is taken away and killed, He reminds them again of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who will be with us, and the Holy Spirit who will teach the disciples all the things that they need to know, in order to continue the mission that Jesus had started. We give thanks to God that we have these encouragements and warnings that, we too, like the disciples, can trust that Jesus and the Father have not left us as orphans but that we can also rely on the Holy Spirit to cause us to endure, but also know that we are loved and have enough knowledge and faith to persevere through the most difficult circumstances. May you be blessed as you listen to the words of Christ today.