I Need Your Help Part 2 (John 14:15-31)
discussion guide and verses used below
This past Sunday we continued in John 14:15-31, picking up where we left off last week on the question we ended with: what if you don't know what to pray?
If you missed Part 1, here's the short version: Jesus promises to send the disciples a helper, and when we hear that word, we have to think of the right kind. Not the construction-site helper who makes the boss's job a little easier, but the kind who climbs into the ditch after someone who has a concussion and no way to get out on their own. That's us without the Holy Spirit. Spiritually dead. Bankrupt. Unable to do what God has called us to do without his help.
Praying in Jesus's Name - What to Actually Pray For
Last week we looked at John 14:13-14 and what it means to pray "in Jesus's name." It doesn't mean attaching a phrase to the end of a prayer. It means praying in alignment with who Jesus is and what God wants. And that answers the first half of "what should I pray for," we read the Word, learn what God wants, and pray for those things.
There is a lot we can pray for with confidence. We can pray for the salvation of the world. Jesus says in Luke 10:2, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest." Paul asks the same thing in Colossians 4:3: pray for open doors to declare the mystery of Christ. These are always safe prayers.
We can pray for sanctification, our own and others'. Sanctification is the process God uses to make us more like Jesus, we are declared righteous the moment we put faith in him, and then we spend our lives becoming what we have been declared to be. Paul prays in Colossians 1:9 that the church would be "filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." That is a prayer any of us can pray for one another.
We can pray prayers of thanksgiving (Colossians 1:3), grateful not just for circumstances but for the people God has put in our lives. We can pray prayers of confession. James 5:16 says to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, so that we may be healed. So many people carry guilt and shame entirely alone. Find a trusted brother or sister and say: I'm struggling, would you pray for me? That is exactly what the body of Christ is for.
And then there are the moments when we simply don't know what to pray. Romans 8:26 meets us there: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." We are not left alone even then. Christ advocates at the right hand of the Father, and the Spirit prays through us when we have nothing left.
Another Helper
Jesus moves into the promise in verse 16: "I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth."
The word translated "helper" here is the Greek word paraklete, one who comes alongside, an advocate, a counselor in the legal sense: someone fighting on your behalf. And Jesus says "another" helper, which means the disciples already had one. Jesus himself had been their paraklete for three years, walking with them, teaching them, holding their hands through it all. Now he was going away.
I told a story this week about my time as an electrician's apprentice. On my first day, the boss walked the job with me step by step, showing me where to drill holes for wire. On the second day, I was on my own, and I had no confidence in what I was doing. I even drilled a hole in the roof. Needless to say the carpenters were not happy. That feeling of being handed the drill and left alone is what the disciples were facing. And Jesus says: I am not leaving you alone. I am sending you someone just like me, and this time he will not just be with you, he will be in you.
The Holy Spirit brings to mind the scriptures we have stored. He testifies to who Jesus is. He convicts the world of sin, drawing people toward God even before they understand what is happening. If you have ever watched someone keep showing up to church despite not being sure why they keep coming back, you have watched the Holy Spirit work.
The Fullness of God Dwells in You
Verse 23 adds something remarkable. Jesus says: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." Not just the Spirit, but the Father and the Son. The fullness of the triune God indwells the believer. The Holy Spirit is not some smaller portion of God distributed to people. He is the third person of the Trinity, a "he," a person, not a force, and his indwelling brings with it all the presence of God.
Peace Not Like the World Gives
Jesus closes this section with a word that the disciples desperately needed: "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you."
The world in that day had a concept of peace called the Pax Romana, the Roman peace, built on military conquest and the threat of destruction. It worked by fear and it was always fragile. Eventually every empire held together by human power falls apart. Jesus's peace is built on something different: humility. The humility of God going to a cross, absorbing in himself the penalty that every human being owes, and rising from the dead to offer genuine reconciliation. This peace is not just between people. It is peace between humanity and God, which is where the real restlessness lies.
We are going to look at that peace a lot more in December. Isaiah 9 calls the coming Messiah the Prince of Peace, and that text is coming.
The Father is Greater
One more verse worth pausing on. Jesus says in verse 28: "If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." He just said in John 10:30 that he and the Father are one. How do both things hold?
There is a distinction theologians make between the ontological Trinity: what God is, and the economic Trinity: how God acts within creation and redemption. Ontologically, the Father, Son, and Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal, the same undivided divine essence. But within redemption, the Son willingly humbled himself, taking on flesh, submitting to the Father's mission, becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). It is not that the Father outranks the Son in some permanent sense. It is that the Son, in his incarnation, voluntarily stooped. And after the cross and resurrection and ascension, he returns to the glory he shared with the Father before creation (John 17:5).
Jesus says "The Father is greater than I" not because he is less than God, but because God chose to come to us in weakness so that he could bring us home.
Watch the full sermon on YouTube | Bryant Street Baptist Church
Scriptures Referenced
- John 14:15-31
- John 1:1 (the Word was with God and the Word was God)
- John 5:18 (his opponents said he made himself equal with God)
- John 10:30 (I and the Father are one)
- John 14:9 (whoever has seen me has seen the Father)
- John 15:26 (the helper whom I will send to you from the Father)
- John 16:13 (Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth)
- John 17:5 (glorify me with the glory I had before the world existed)
- Isaiah 9:6-7 (Prince of Peace; no end to the increase of his government and peace)
- Luke 10:2 (harvest is plentiful, laborers are few; pray for laborers)
- Romans 8:11 (spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you)
- Romans 8:26 (Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words)
- 1 Corinthians 6:11 (you were washed, sanctified, justified by the Spirit of our God)
- Philippians 1:23 (my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better)
- Philippians 2:6-8 (did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped; humbled himself to death on a cross)
- Colossians 1:9 (filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom)
- Colossians 4:3 (pray that God may open a door for the word)
- 1 Thessalonians 3:10 (pray to see you face to face; supply what is lacking in your faith)
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances)
- 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 (pray that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored)
- James 5:16 (confess your sins to one another and pray for one another)
- 3 John 2 (I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health)
- Acts 16:7 (Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go into Bithynia)
- Philemon 6 (pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective)
Discussion Guide
Growth Group Study Guide: I Need Your Help (Part 2)
Scripture: John 14:15–31 | Date: November 9, 2026
Big Idea: Mission success—making disciples who make disciples—is impossible on our own; it comes only through the indwelling Holy Spirit and the power of prayer.
Leader Note: You have more questions here than your group can cover in an hour. Don’t feel obligated to go in order or finish them all. Periodically ask members to read the answers they wrote down ahead of time to keep everyone engaged.
Getting to Know Me
When you are lost, stuck on a project, or in over your head, which of the following are you most likely to do?
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).md+ 1a. Immediately call someone who knows what they are doing.
b. Watch three online tutorials and try to figure it out myself.
c. Stubbornly keep pushing until I break something (like Pastor Michael’s apprentice drill story).
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).mdd. Walk away and pretend the problem doesn't exist.
Growing up in your family, how were hard emotions like fear, anxiety, or failure usually handled—talked about openly, swept under the rug, or fixed with tough-it-out grit? (Note: Helps build group history around Jesus’s words, "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid".)
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Priming the Pump
Looking back at Sunday’s message from John 14:15–31, what stood out to you as most helpful, challenging, or even troubling?
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Into the Bible
(Note: These passages were not covered in Sunday’s sermon and are designed to help us dig deeper into the themes of the text.)
On Sunday we saw that the Holy Spirit isn't a mere assistant for capable people, but a rescuer for the spiritually helpless. Read Ephesians 2:1–10 and Titus 3:3–7. What do these verses reveal about our condition before Christ, and what specific roles do the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit play in rescuing us?
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).mdJesus says in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". Read 1 John 5:1–5 and Galatians 5:16–25. How do these passages guard us against turning Christian obedience into a joyless checklist of rules?
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).mdPastor Michael noted that the Holy Spirit empowers us for the mission of making disciples and brings God’s truth to mind when we need it. Read Acts 1:8, Acts 4:8–13, and 1 Corinthians 2:1–5. How did the Spirit’s help show up in the early church's witness, and how does that relieve the pressure you might feel when talking to others about Jesus?
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).mdIn John 14:27, Jesus promises a peace the world cannot give—unlike the Pax Romana, which relied on control, power, and fear. Read Isaiah 26:3–4 and Philippians 4:4–9. According to these passages, what practical habits keep our minds anchored in Christ’s peace when life feels out of control?
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Application
Connecting: Pastor Michael shared five biblical categories we can always pray with confidence: (1) the salvation of the lost, (2) our sanctification and wisdom, (3) thanksgiving for others, (4) confession of sin, and (5) the physical health/good of others.
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).mdWhich of these five is easiest for you to pray?
Which one do you tend to neglect, and what would it look like to weave it into your prayer routine this week?
Sticky Church.pdf
Connecting: Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete—our Advocate and Helper who dwells in us forever (John 14:16–17). In what everyday situation right now (at work, in parenting, in a strained relationship, or in fighting a temptation) are you tempted to rely on your own willpower rather than actively praying, "Lord, I need your help"?
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).md+ 1Connecting: Pastor Michael mentioned that hiding God’s Word in our hearts gives the Holy Spirit "more ammunition" to bring Scripture to remembrance when we are tempted, discouraged, or witnessing. What is one simple, realistic way you could keep Scripture in front of you during your normal daily routine (commute, lunch break, morning coffee)?
2026-11-09 John 14.15-31 I Need Your Help (Part 2).mdDigging Deeper (Leaders: Handle with care; never pressure anyone to share): Sunday’s message challenged us with James 5:16 to find a trusted brother or sister to confess our struggles to rather than carrying guilt and shame alone. What usually holds believers back from that kind of transparency in church, and how can our group be a safe, gossip-free place to carry each other's burdens?
Sticky Church.pdf+ 4Digging Deeper: Jesus tells His disciples that His going to the Father is actually good news for them (John 14:28), pointing to the unity and humility within the Trinity. When you think about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all working together to make their home in you (John 14:23), how does that truth comfort you when you feel spiritually weak or inadequate?
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