The Presence, the Possession, & the Pigs
October 1 | DNA Guide
Be Real Together:
Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.
Read Together: Matthew 8:28-34 CSB
The One Question:
Ask this question at your family meal or DNA.
Up until this point in Matthew, when Jesus is performing miracles, even more people come to him and he heals more people! Yet, in Gadera the people come and they don’t want anything to do with Jesus. The issue is not what He has done, but it is his presence. Something about His presence challenges their lifestyle and they ask him to leave. Why do you think that is?
Grow Together:
Use these questions to go deeper with your DNA or for personal study.
- “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them, " (C. S. Lewis). Have you found yourself on one side or the other? If not, where do you land on the idea of the demonic?
- We go through so much strife to keep Jesus away from the other side of our hearts; to avoid Jesus truly addressing the hidden evil within each of us. Why? Because we want to do what we want with out getting called out. Jesus comes to set people free from not just demons, but the greater and more invisible slave master: sin. While some are delivered, others turn Christ away because they love their sin more than freedom. Where are you avoiding Jesus? Is there sin you need to confess today?
- Here’s the most terrifying thing. Amidst demonized men crawling out of the graves and pigs plunging into the sea, what is truly horrific in this story is that the townspeople beg Jesus to leave and He actually does. In an ironic twist, we focus on Jesus exorcizing the demonic, but when Jesus rearranges the interior of our lives we cast him out. How does this challenge you today? Is Jesus trying to rearrange the interior of your life in any way? Have you been casting him out?
Pray Together:
Take time to pray with and for each other.