JOBY MARTIN

I hope these questions will help you lead your group discussion while building relationships with each other and applying God’s Word to your lives.

  WARM UP

1. What movie or show have you watched so many times that you know exactly how it ends?

This question will tie into the theme we will discuss in the “Live It” section.  We are fighting from victory. We know how the story ends!

2. If you’ve played sports or been in a competition, describe a time when you put in a lot of work leading up to that event and how it helped you win.
3. Joby taught us that spiritual warfare—our unseen battle against the devil—is a real, literal war. Is this idea new to you? What stood out to you in this message?

We will discuss this concept in much greater detail on question 1 of the “Share It” section. In the meantime, I would keep it at a 30,000-foot view as we will go into greater detail later.

 

KNOW IT

1. Read Genesis 2:15-17 and Genesis 3:1-10. This weekend, we learned that the enemy

wants us to question the word of God, the worth of God, and the work of God. How do you see the serpent (Satan) using this tactic against Adam and Eve?

Additional Question: It can be easy to see how Satan attacks others. Which one of those areas do you feel the most attacked with? Which one the least? Why?

2. Read Ephesians 6:10-18. According to these verses, how does Satan try to attack Jesus-followers? Read through the passage again and list the ways you can stand against those attacks.

Additional Question: When spiritual attacks do come, how quickly do you recognize them as spiritual? When attacks come, who’s power do you try and defend it with? Yours or God’s?

The sooner we recognize it as a spiritual attack the faster we can get our spiritual armor on to fight spiritual with spiritual.

 

  SHARE IT

1. As Christians, we can sometimes fall into one of two unhealthy extremes: believing that demons are nowhere or believing that demons are everywhere. How has your upbringing or church background shaped your view of the spiritual world? Have your views changed as you learn more about what the Bible says?

Your group will more than likely have people on both sides of the spectrum. Remember it’s the extremes that are unhealthy.

Additional Questions:

What would the mindset or lifestyle of someone who believes there are no demons look like?

What would the mindset or lifestyle of someone who believes demons are everywhere look like?

2. Think of a frequent struggle in your life, like frustration at work or tough days with your family. How can you “put on the armor of God” in these seemingly mundane parts of life?

Additional Verses: 1 John 2:15-16

As believers we are called to reject the systems of this world AND love the people of this world.

Joby challenged us that many Christians have it flipped. We love the systems of this world and reject people. Would you agree with this, why or why not?

 

LIVE IT

1. This weekend, we were reminded that we fight from victory, not for victory. How will knowing you’re on the winning team help you face your week?

 

2. Throughout Scripture, we see worship as a powerful tool in the fight against the enemy and a great reminder of where our help comes from (Psalm 8:2, Psalm 149:6, Psalm 144:1). Take a few minutes to find a worship song about God’s victory in battle and listen to it throughout your week. Here are a few songs to get you started.

• See a Victory, by Elevation Worship
• You’ve Already Won, by Shane & Shane
• Battle Belongs, by Phil Wickham

You could play one of your favorite songs with your group and encourage them to listen to it through the lenses of the battle they are facing?

How has your view of your challenge / battle changed after listening to that song.

If your group uses Spotify or another streaming music platform you could make a playlist with all the songs your group collected and encourage them to listen to it this week.

Additional Resources – Quotes Mentioned in Sermon:

“Prayer is a war-time walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom for ringing up the butler to change the thermostat. It is a war-time walkie-talkie to call in firepower because the enemy is greater than we are. If you try to turn this into a domestic intercom to bring another pillow, it malfunctions, and you wonder why. It’s not made to be an intercom. It is made to be a war-time walkie-talkie.” John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life

The Letter of Mathetes to Diognetus – AD 130 Rome, Chapter 5: The Manner of the Christians

“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3 They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Philippians 3:20 They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. 2 Corinthians 6:9 They are poor yet make many rich; 2 Corinthians 6:10 they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; 2 Corinthians 4:12 they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

“I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth “home.” Before you know it, I am calling luxuries “needs” and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don’t think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mindset.” – John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life