Sermon Notes for March 6

This passage from Mark 1:21-28, has some interesting and thought provoking aspects. How do we understand this idea of evil spirits?

We live in a particular time when evil spirits and demons are pretty well ruled out by science, but more in the awareness of people because of entertainment like TV and movies.

Last week I asked the Middle School kids what they knew about demons. They came up with quite a list! One of them had even watched the movie "Legion" a film so dark and scary I wouldn't watch it in a million years.

They knew that demons were: bad guys, sons of Satan, scary people, not people, needed to be exorcised, are part of a natural balance, fallen angels, created, role testers.

Since I am guessing most of this they did not learn in Sunday School (although maybe) it seems our younger generation is getting their "spiritual" information from Hollywood!

So when Jesus is approached by a man with an "evil spirit" what does that mean? And when the bible says that Jesus said, "be quiet and come out of the man," what does that mean?

Mark tells us that the people were astonished and said, "even the evil spirits obey him." It seems to suggest that evil spirits are no match for Jesus. Does that mean if we put the demons from "Legion" in the presence of Jesus that they too would move on out of town leaving behind a quiet, un-demonized population?

Hmm, that sounds really good. Now what about a sermon?