9.19.21 HUDDLE
OPENING QUESTIONS
- What is your favorite thing about Fall (and no saying Pumpkin Spice Latte’s)?
- What is your least favorite thing about Fall (and no saying Pumpkin Spice Latte’s)?
INTRO: Last week we had our baptism service at Garvin Park and it was AMAZING! We had 31 people who told the world that they were choosing to follow Jesus. Today we are discussing something that may seem like a total departure from baptism but is more connected than you might think. Today, we are discussing “Demons and Darkness.”
- What is your first thought when you hear demons and darkness? (Do you glaze over, lean in, automatically shut it down as skeptical, affirm it as 100% true)
- Why might the idea of demons and darkness be a good follow up from Baptism? What, if any, is the connection?
- Fill in the blank with one word . . . In His time, Jesus was best known as a __________________.
While Jesus was known as a lot of things (rabbi, troublemaker, miracle worker, etc), one of the things he was known as . . . that we don’t often attribute to him . . . was an exorcist. Look at this story from Luke 11.
BIBLE ENGAGMENT: LUKE 11:14-28
14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
23 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
24 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”
27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”
28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
BIBLE ENGAGMENT QUESTIONS
- What stands out to you from this text?
One thing that is noteworthy is that his enemies didn’t argue THAT he drove out demons . . . they clearly believed that. Instead, they argued over HOW he drove them out.
- What do you observe about Jesus in this story? How would you characterize him?
THE QUESTION: WHY WOULD ANYONE BELIEVE THIS?
- When you read these types of stories, are they hard for you to believe? Why or why not?
One argument in support of these types of Biblical accounts is that these accounts are not unique to Biblical times or the Christian religion. One anthropological study showed that out of a sample of 488 geographic locations and ethnic groups, 74% believed in the concept of demon-possession.
- Respond to the following quote from historian Craig Keener: “Social anthropologists have been faced in the field with dramatic changes in personality in men and women they were studying, alterations of behavior, trembling, sweating, groaning, speaking in strange voices, assumption of a different identity, purporting to be a spirit and not a human being, giving commands and foretelling the future in a new authoritative way.”
HOW ARE WE TO THINK OF THESE THINGS?
Writer and historian C.S. Lewis, framed this idea well saying:
“Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery.”
- In light of this idea of “enemy-occupied territory,” Look at the short, interjected parable in verses 21-23: Who is Jesus identifying as the “strongman” and who is “the stronger man?”
- Our mission then, as Jesus followers, is a sabotage operation; a reclaiming of enemy occupied territory. Read Roman’s 12:17-21. How insight does this passage give us in reclaiming enemy territory?
ROMANS 12:17-21
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a]says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[b]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
APPLICATION
- Other than what is stated in Romans 12, what are some practical things we can do in our lives to join the sabotage operation and reclaim enemy territory in our community?
CLOSE IN PRAYER