The Enemy
Springcreek Church | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
Sunday, June 26, 2022
We are at war - not with a foreign invader, not with our culture, and certainly not with our neighbor. We are at war with a very real enemy whom the Bible compares to a roaring lion seeking those he can devour. In this war, an untrained soldier is just a target. This is why we simply must understand the nature of our enemy, how he works and how to resist him. Join us this Sunday for what is certain to be a memorable and extremely helpful message about this war and how to defeat the enemy.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. As a result of this Sunday’s message, did you find any of your ideas about the devil being challenged or changing? Have you ever known people who tend to see a devil behind every bush or blame him for everything that goes wrong in their life (including those things for which they were personally responsible)? Why do you think people do this? In what ways do erroneous views of the enemy actually play directly into his hands?
2. Satan is not the equal and opposite of God. He possesses none of the attributes that Scripture says belong exclusively to God – omnipresence (to be everywhere at once), omnipotence (to possess all power), and omniscience (knowing everything there is including one’s thoughts). Why do people tend to equate Satan’s abilities with those of God? What effect does this have on people?
3. The nature of temptation is not first and foremost to get us to do evil. It is first to doubt who we are and question God’s plan. Once that is accomplished, failure will take care of itself. So Satan will always try to get us to question who we are – his attack is centered on identity. Once we fall, he redoubles his efforts in making us think we are unredeemable - beyond repair, beyond hope, and beyond love. We call it self-recrimination and it’s all about that internal dialog that Satan adds his accusation to that causes us to spiral out of control. How has that worked out in your life? How has the enemy used that to separate you from conscious connection with God’s love and grace?
4. Take some time to read and study the armor of God in Ephesians 6.10-17. As Pastor Keith explained, putting on the armor of God is symbolic of being clothed in Christ. The first three pieces of armament Paul mentions are spoken of in past tense because we always have them on if we’re believers (though we need to be reminded especially in times of temptation or assault) - those pieces are the belt, the breastplate, and the shoes. Take some time to discuss how remembering those things helps us do battle with the enemy. How do those pieces ground our being – our identity – in Christ? The next three pieces of armament are what we actively take up during times of temptation or assault – those pieces are the shield, the helmet, and the sword. Discuss how these pieces aid us in our fight against the enemy.
5. The hardest part of any temptation is to not allow the accusations of the enemy, the self, or others to mutilate our identity. Paul is clear, we must make our stand on who we are in Christ. We must know that who we are in Jesus is the truest thing about us. Take some time either in your journal or as a group to discuss what you know and understand about who we are in Christ and what comfort that is to you.
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