Wait... What? (August 2, 2026)

August 2, 2026
Wait... What? (August 2, 2026)
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 118:1-2, 5-6, 24

LEADER: Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
ALL: Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
LEADER: Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
ALL: The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH:    Deuteronomy 8:5-6, 11-16

LEADER: Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

Deut. 8:11 “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

BENEDICTION: Romans 16:20, Philippians 4:4

LEADER: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.. . . .Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. . . .The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you

Discussion Questions:

  1. What most readily comes to mind at one of your most joyous moments? Why do you ascribe joy to that experience? What was it like?
  2. First there was the 12 sent out (Luke 9), and then the 72 (Luke 10). Can you recall an experience of ever making plain to someone curious about Jesus what He is about? What was that experience like?
  3. Refresh your memory from the sermon. Why did they return to base rejoicing? Why would that be a cause for joy if you’d been them?
  4. Interpret what Jesus means by saying He “saw satan fall.” What from elsewhere in Scripture would help tease out the meaning of His claim?
  5. What is satan associated with in his name and in his ways? Patiently consider why his dethronement–in keeping with the allusion to Isaiah 14 Jesus makes in this passage–would be heartening news? What would it mean for you?
  6. Jesus, if you remember from the sermon, is calling them to choose their joy. He doesn’t dismiss what they are taking joy in right then. He is however setting that joy in the context of a deeper one. Why is it deeper. Why choose that one. What, and this is the most important question, does it mean to choose that joy? How might we do so? (And what if we don’t?)

Illustrations:

Aug 2, 2026

QUOTES:

To be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is. 
- C. S. Lewis (from The Weight of Glory)

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