DARK OF THE MOON
Series: Ephesians 6
INTRO #1: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I plan to open up by asking the youth what was their favorite Transformer movie moment (I am sure some of our coolest kids will have great answers here). Obviously, what I am going for here is a detailed talk about battles that will lead into a discussion about warfare—spiritual warfare (remind all MS that there is an age appropriateness to the movie that is still questionable—the recent ones are in no way innocent when it comes to language).
INTRO #2: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
On the Dark Side of the Moon album written years ago by Pink Floyd (I don’t suggest going to buy it). There is a song titled The Great Gig in the Sky which has the following lyrics…
"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime." "If you can hear this whispering you are dying."
Now, I don’t want to imply here that anyone is dying per se, but our friends with us involved in this spiritual war are absolutely feeling the consequences of their actions, the consequences of NOT understanding the spiritual war, which is what we will look at today.
TRANSITION: Enough of the Dark Side of the Moon, we will now talk about the Dark Side of the Galaxy. More specifically, the invisible nature of the war.
BIBLE VERSE: Ephesians 6:10-12
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
5 GREAT TRUTHS:
1. There is an invisible world just as real as the visible world.
2. We are involved in the invisible war.
3. Our enemy is strong and his goal is to destroy us.
4. We are to respect our foe—but not fear him.
5. We need to analyze our enemy’s tactics if we are to defeat him.
THE LESSON:
1. There is an invisible world just as real as the visible world.
Leaders, this is the part I will teach as an intro to the small group teachings. I will begin by taking a person to an open window/door leading up to garage/something that could look outside, and ask them what they see. When they respond, I will ask them why they can’t see it (and never tell them what it is). After awhile I will explain to them that there is an invisible war going on, right outside this very house there could be demons and angels clashing all over the ability to preach this message. Honestly, if we could actually see it, it would be unbelievable (or horrific depending on one’s viewpoint….probably horrific if we’re being honest).
2. We are involved in the invisible war.
The humans working for the American secret military operations of the transformers tend to ignore that there were Decepticons and that they were on their way. The war to them, seemed invisible because it wasn’t right in front of their faces. Thus, many responses were made in error.
This next series of verses can be terrifying as your greatest nightmare if we fail to understand the contextual meaning.
BIBLE VERSE: Daniel 10:7-13 (verses 12-13 emphasized in bold writing)
7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. 9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.
10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
I SUGGEST TO READ VERSES 12-13 A COUPLE OF TIMES TO LET IT SINK IN.
Here’s the deal, if we are reading these verses correctly, we come to the conclusion that Daniel (a very Godly man, so Godly he would put us all to shame if we’re all being honest, at least put me to shame—I can only speak of myself). So, when Daniel prays…the deal is done, right? Wrong. The spirit/angel that was sent to assist to Daniel did not arrive to help immediately. Why? Because the “prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.”
Whoa! You are telling me that a Godly man can pray for divine intervention for three weeks…and an evil spirit still has enough power to resist that operation? Yes, that’s the answer. If you look at the verse, it’s actually worse than that. Not only did the evil spirit (with a title nonetheless) resist, but he DETAINED. This means that not only was the spirit/angel unable to arrive with Daniel, but he was also held hostage in some type of spiritual prison.
Leaders we need to let that soak in. Our youth need to realize that much of the fight we think we have is against our own busy lives, but in all reality, odd things can happen for any number of reasons, and many times it is of the doing of the adversary.
3. Our enemy is strong and his goal is to destroy us.
(Leaders, you may want to substitute your own story here when putting together your own story here) Not so long ago, a major upset happened in the world of the NFL. My team, the Green Bay Packers, of whom I am an owner (might be one of 280,000 but nonetheless an owner), took their 15-1 record into a playoff game and lost to an inferior opponent, the New York Giants. Now, the Giants made good by continuing the saga and eventually ending up winning the Super Bowl. But facts are facts. The stats in the football game for the Packers ended up far below any of their other games they had played the whole year. The dropped 8 passes and lost 2 fumbles, something that happens to them…never.
Now, did the Pack underestimate the Giants? I really don’t know. More than likely they planned just like any other game and ended up playing poorly…not to take away anything from the Giants. But the Packers had to realize that they faced an enemy that was wishing to destroy them…and in this case did.
Transitioning over, I am amazed by how many Christians underestimate the power of the Devil, underestimate the strength (that God allows him to have) actually has. Once Satan gets a stronghold like the 10-40 Window (that’s the giant area on the globe that is predominately Muslim), or the island of Haiti (the national religion of voodoo has been practice there for ages), or even something more local like the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans (first thing rebuilt after the hurricane was Bourbon Street). His power is strong.
BIBLE VERSE: Jude 1:8-10
8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”[d] 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
If we look at that verse specifically, DOES MICHAEL TELL SATAN TO HIT THE ROAD? DOES THE ARCH-ANGEL MICHAEL POUNCE? DOES MICHAEL RIP SATAN TO SHREDS AND SPLATTER HIS PIECES ALL OVER THE HIGHWAY? No, in fact, Satan had such “respect” for the powers of the evil one, Michael refused to even talk trash back to him which would have been called slander. Instead, he handed the problem over to the Lord.
Handling it over the Lord is an example of understanding power. And it’s not just understanding the power of Satan, hidden in this verse is the fact that Michael also understands the overwhelming power that comes from the Lord.
4. We are to respect our foe—but not fear him.
I’m a high school football coach. That means a lot of things, but what is absolutely means is that I watch video, scout the opponent, and study the tendencies that the opposing team does so I know how to react. Sometimes teams play outside of themselves or their own playbook, but normally that is done in only desperate measures or if they are pretty certain they are on the losing side (for the record, Satan is on the losing side which is why he sometimes has odd attacks too).
Now, there have been times when I watched the film, and at the end of was thoroughly convinced that we had little chance. Obviously I wouldn’t tell this to my players, but there have been some teams or more importantly positions on teams that are just down right impressive. I image some teams thought that of us back in 2008 when I had Montee Ball in the backfield running behind a pair of division 1 offensive lineman.
But in making the game plan (and we always devise a game plan to win), we never could fall in to a “worship the other team mentality.” Meaning, “wow these guys are brilliant, we are just lucky to be on the same field as them.” I don’t think any coach would ever do that.
We had to RESPECT them, NOT FEAR them. Make sense?
So what are Satan’s plan? There are many, but just by his own names, he sorta gives many of them away:
FOCUS ON THIS CHART:
Satan (adversary): He is our enemy warrior.
Devil (slanderer): He is planning to ruin your name.
Lucifer (son of the morning): Literally means light bearing, he looks innocent.
Beelzebub (prince of demons): He commands evil legions.
Belial (without profit): He has nothing to gain, so he wants us to lose too.
Evil one: He is without goodness, so don’t get faked out by “help.”
Tempter: He purposefully leads us into sin.
Prince of this world: He desires our worship.
Accuser of the brethren: He starts fights Christian vs. Christian.
*Representations include a Serpent, a Dragon, an Angel of Light.
5. We need to analyze our enemy’s tactics if we are to defeat him.
The following information I cut from a sermon written by Barry Davis. I am not sure any small group has time to actually get this far, so the only real point on this one is to focus on the analysis of our enemy’s tactics—which can be done pretty efficiently just by going over the meaning of his name. But here is the exhaustive list in case a student wants to know or even wants to keep a copy of this handout.
Satan Attacks God’s Program, The Church, By...
*False philosophies - Col. 2:8
*False religions - 1 Cor. 10:19
*False ministers - 2 Cor. 11:14-15
*False doctrine - 1 John 2:18
*False disciples - Matt. 13
*False morals - 2 Thess. 2:7
Satan Attacks God’s People By . . .
*Directing governments - Dan. 10:13
*Deceiving men - 2 Cor. 4:4
*Destroying life - Heb. 2:14
*Persecuting the saints - Rev. 2:10
*Preventing service - 1 Thess. 2:18
*Promoting schisms - 2 Cor. 2:10-11
*Planting doubt - Gen. 3:1-2
*Provoking sin and Anger - Eph. 4:26-27
*Pride - 1 Tim. 3:6; Worry - Matt. 13:22; Self-reliance - 1 Chron. 21:1; Discouragement - 1 Pet. 5:6-8; Worldliness - 1 John 2:16; Lying - Acts 5:3; Immorality - 1 Cor. 5:1-2
*Producing sects/cults - 1 Tim. 4:1
Satan’s Power Is Limited
*He is created, therefore not omniscient or infinite
*He can be resisted by the Christian - James 4:7
*God places limitations on him - Job 1:12