Praising God During the Storm

In one paragraph

This message came from Pastor Carl's ongoing series walking through a harmony of the gospels. He looked at the moment when Jesus responded to religious leaders who accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan, and he connected that ancient accusation to the broader question of whether we trust God's goodness when circumstances are hard. Before getting into the text, Pastor Carl shared a...

Read together

1. Mark 3:20-21 his own people said he had lost his senses and came to take him into protective custody
2. Mark 3:22 scribes from Jerusalem said he cast out demons by Beelzebub
3. Mark 3:23-27 Jesus refutes the accusation with the parable of the divided kingdom and the strong man's house
4. Mark 3:28-30 all sins and blasphemies forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unpardonable sin
5. Luke 11:14 Jesus cast out a mute demon and the man spoke, amazing the crowds
6. Luke 11:15-16 some said he cast out demons by Beelzebub, others demanded a sign from heaven
7. Luke 11:17-19 every kingdom divided against itself falls, and Jesus asks by whom their sons cast out demons
8. Luke 11:20 if Jesus casts out demons by the finger of God, the kingdom of God has come upon them
9. Luke 11:21-23 the strong man's house parable and whoever is not with Jesus scatters
10. Luke 11:24-26 unclean spirit returns with seven more evil spirits, the last condition worse than the first
11. Matthew 12:22 a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and healed
12. Matthew 12:23 crowds asked whether this man could be the son of David
13. Matthew 12:24-27 Pharisees attributed the healing to Beelzebub and Jesus refutes with the divided kingdom argument
14. Matthew 12:28 if Jesus casts out demons by the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God has come upon them
15. Matthew 12:29 no one can plunder the strong man's house without first tying up the strong man
16. Matthew 12:30 the one who is not with Jesus is against him and scatters
17. Matthew 12:31-32 every sin and blasphemy forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
18. Romans 1:25 people exchange the truth of God for a lie, cited in explaining blasphemy
19. John 16:1-15 Jesus tells disciples in the upper room that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment
20. Luke 24:17 Jesus meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus and they stood still looking sad
21. Matthew 6 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mark described Jesus' own people saying 'he has lost his senses' when they saw how he was giving himself to the crowds without even stopping to eat. Have you ever looked at the way Jesus calls his followers to live and thought, that seems a little crazy? What was going on in your thinking at that moment?
2. Pastor Mark defined blasphemy as being slow to call what is good actually good, and slow to call what is bad actually bad, and said we see it every single day. Where do you notice that pattern showing up, and how do you hold your footing when a lie gets repeated long enough that it starts to sound reasonable?
3. Jesus told the Pharisees that casting out a demon on its own, without the Holy Spirit taking up residence, can leave a person worse off than before. What do you think is the difference between behavior modification and the kind of change Jesus is describing, and what does that look like in practice?
4. Melissa Ripley Thompson gave a testimony in the first service about praising God during the storm, and Pastor Mark said that does not mean people who grieve longer or differently are wrong. How do you hold those two things together, genuine grief and genuine praise, without letting one cancel out the other?
5. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus didn't recognize Jesus until they invited him in and he broke bread with them. Pastor Mark said that picture is meaningful for how we handle bewildering circumstances. What does it actually look like, in a hard season, to invite Christ into the difficulty rather than just trying to think your way through it?