18 Feb
2024

Tempted by the Devil

Passage: Luke 4:1-13

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
—The Usual Suspects

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

— Hebrews 4:15

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

What has shaped your understanding of evil?

Read Luke 4:1-13. What does this passage teach us about God’s character?

Three times the devil tempts Jesus with good things taken out of their proper place or process (bread, Jesus’s kingship, and safety). What good things in your life have you been tempted to make ultimate or take control of instead of receiving in its rightful way from God?

Jesus resisted these temptations with God’s word. In Jesus’s life we see him take in the Word of God in solitude, small group settings with his disciples, and a larger community at the synagogue. What do these three settings of listening to God’s word look like in your life? What setting comes easiest for you and how have you benefited from these various contexts in learning God’s truth?

In receiving God’s word we need to 1) hear it, 2) meditate on it, 3) pray it, and 4) live it. How have these four movements helped you to enjoy and be transformed by God’s truth? Are there aspects of these practices that are more challenging to you? In what ways can you grow in practicing these four movements?

How does seeing and knowing Jesus perfected resisted temptation equip and encourage you to resist the lies of satan?

PRAYER

Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

1 John 3:8