John 16:1-15 | What's the connection?

The broad scope that this passage is dealing with is the promise of persecution to the church. The purpose of John writing this gospel account is to lead those who read it into belief. Faith is a central theme all throughout the book. One of the enemy's favorite tools to quench faith is persecution. It makes sense that John would draw out what Jesus teaches concerning persecution to encourage the reader. Rather than persecution being a sign that you are doing something wrong, persecution becomes evidence that you're doing something really right. In fact this is exactly the attitude the disciples took.

If we take a look at passages like Acts 5, we can see exactly how the changing of this mentality affected the church. As the disciples have been spreading the gospel for a little bit, they continually get put on trial. Eventually, they get beaten and tossed out. Take a look at how the disciples respond.

40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
-Acts 5:40-42

Rather than their faith being quenched, it was stirred up. Rather than it stopping the mission, it propelled it. It is a widely known statistic today that the churches with the most persecution are often the most thriving churches. Like a refiner's fire, the heat of persecution only purifies the genuineness of the faith that is there.

What connection are you seeing?