It is common to hear various non-biblical statements about the person and work of Jesus Christ. For example, "Jesus was just a man, not God" or "Jesus is only a teacher or prophet" or "Jesus' death was unfortunate, but didn't accomplish anything."

Jesus claimed that he was God and that he came to seek and save the lost by conquering Satan, hell, death, evil, and sin. A few of his followers got that, but all of the demons that speak in the Gospels seem to understand this...and they shudder (James 2:19).

What Do Demons Think of Jesus?

It is interesting to see what the enemies of Jesus Christ, the demons, thought and said about him. It's generally not a good rule of thumb to get your theology from demons, but in this case it is fascinating because what they say repeats what the rest of the Bible proclaims about who Jesus Christ is and what his life, death, and resurrection mean for us. The demons in the Gospels have better teachings about Jesus than some preachers with their weak doctrines of Christ!

"What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"—Matthew 8:29

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God."—Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34

"You are the Son of God."—Mark 3:11

"You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.—Luke 4:41

"What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me."—Luke 8:28, Mark 5:7

What Demons Reveal About Jesus' Authority

Prior to the demons' beliefs about Jesus is his command over them. In each of the passages, the demons are not even permitted to voice their beliefs without the permission of Jesus, the sovereign God. When they are permitted to speak, they acknowledge his cultural identity, his divinity, and his power over their each and every move. They acknowledge him as Lord, Son of God, the Holy One of God—and they shudder before him.

The demons know that Jesus has come to earth from heaven to judge them (Rev 19:15), destroy the kingdom of darkness (Gen 3:15, Rom 16:20), disarm the demonic order (Col 2:15), and set captives free from sin and death (Rom 6:23, Rom 8:2).

Calling him "Son of God" is a clear declaration of Jesus' divinity (Matt 26:63-64; John 5:17ff; 10:33-36), and the phrase "Holy One of God" is never used to describe anyone but God (Jeremiah 50:29; Isaiah 30:11). Who is holy but God alone (1 Sam. 2:2)?

Religion Saves

Pastor Mark answers the top nine most-asked questions in Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions. Find out more.

One of the most difficult aspects of my work as a pastor is wading through the vast amount of ministry opportunities that seem to be never-ending.

Opportunity Is Everywhere

For church leaders, every day brings a barrage of ideas and decisions related to potential opportunities. They come from everywhere: God, the Bible, church staff, Sunday services, a restful vacation, the congregation, the web, the news, a walk down the street, and on and on.

I’ve found that every opportunity is fraught with some form of opposition.


Opportunity and Opposition


You don’t have to get far into the Bible to see the tension between opportunity and opposition. Our forefather Adam is created and given an enormous opportunity from God: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28).

Those with an entrepreneurial bent get pretty excited when reading about an opportunity of such grandiose potential—being the first to inhabit the entire earth. Read a little further, however, and the opposition is readily apparent. In this case Adam and Eve are opposed and tempted by Satan, and they’re also opposed by their sinful desire to be like God, knowing good and evil.

Of course, our first parents do sin, and all future opportunities are forever changed by the curse upon humanity. For the man specifically, his work to “fill the earth and subdue it” is a lot harder now that the earth is at war against him, broken and fallen from its luscious garden state.

You Are Cursed

The same call and the same curse that burdened Adam remain in place for all of us, which means that effectively evaluating opportunities is no easy task.

Three key filters can help separate fruitful opportunity from sinful distraction: wisdom, priorities, and cost. I’ll discuss these biblical principles in future posts.

Jamie Munson is the Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Church. You can connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

Advance 09 Media

Video, audio, and images from the Advance 09 conference in Raleigh-Durham, NC, June 2009. Find out more.

To answer any significant question about where we come from, why we are here, what is right and wrong, who God is, and where we are going when we die requires doctrine. Subsequently, everyone has doctrine. The only question is whether it is truthful, biblical, and helpful.

Admittedly, in the name of being doctrinally vigorous, some people go too far and put secondary issues—those that are unworthy of battling over—in the closed hand of conviction. Conversely, some people do not go far enough and put in the open hand primary issues that are worthy of battling over. In writing Doctrine, my coauthor, Dr. Gerry Breshears, and I sought to follow the storyline of the Bible and focus on the major unifying, liberating, and life-changing doctrines of the Bible.

The timing of this book is incredibly significant. At the very least, evangelical Christians in general, and younger evangelical Christians in particular, seem incredibly confused on doctrine. One study revealing the incredible need for Doctrine is the third wave of the National Study of Youth and Religion (2008) (see note below). It reports the beliefs of the 13.5% of emerging adults (ages 18 to 23) in the United States today who self-identify as Protestant Christian and who attend an evangelical church at least “two to three times a month”:

• 97.2% believe in God.
• 96.6% believe that Jesus was/is the Son of God who was raised from the dead.
• 96.4% believe that God created the world.
• 89% “definitely” believe in angels.
• 76.2% “definitely” believe in demons.
• 82.5% “definitely” believe in any form of afterlife.
• 83.0% believe in astrology “not at all.”
• 83.2% believe in reincarnation “not at all.”
• 94.8% “definitely” believe in miracles.
• 95.0% believe in a coming judgment day, when God will reward some and punish others.
• 91.2% believe that God is a personal being who is still involved in the world today.
• 81.9% believe that only people whose sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus go to Heaven.
  Corollary: 5.3% say that only good people go to Heaven; 2.5% say that all people go to Heaven; 4.9% believe “something else” about Heaven, and 2.2% “don’t really know or care” who goes to Heaven. 3.3% don’t believe in Heaven at all.
• 1.6% tries to include practices from Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, or other Asian religions.
• 85.5% say that it is “okay for religious people to try to convert other people to their faith.”
• 71.8% say that Christians should only practice one religion.
• 24.6% say that it is okay for Christians to practice other religions as well. (Another 3.6% don’t know.)
• Less than two-thirds (66.2%) say that “only one religion is true.”
• 70.8% say that it is not okay for Christians to “pick and choose their religious beliefs without having to accept the teachings of their religious faith as a whole.”
• More than one-quarter (27.0%) thinks that it is okay to “pick and choose.”
• 89% say that they have “a lot of respect for organized religion in this country.”
• Almost one-quarter (24.3%) agrees with or is still undecided about moral relativism.
• 36.0% “agree” or “strongly agree” that “we should adjust our views of what is morally right and wrong” to reflect changes in our world.
• 52.0% “agree” or “strongly agree” that people should not marry someone of a different religion.

REMEMBER: These statistics are from the 13.5% of emerging adults (ages 18 to 23) in the United States today who self-identify as Protestant Christian and who attend an evangelical church at least “two to three times a month.” In Doctrine we hit all these issues and many more in a readable manner.

Note: The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) is the most comprehensive and rigorous social scientific research ever conducted on the religious and spiritual lives of American youth. It is based out of the University of North Carolina and the University of Notre Dame. The wave 1 survey was conducted among American youth ages 13 to 17 between July 2002 and April 2003, and produced a total N = 3370. Most recently, a third wave of the survey was conducted from September 24, 2007 through April 21, 2008 with the same respondents—when they were between the ages of 18 and 23 years. (This is during the first half of what developmental psychologists call “emerging adulthood.”) The National Study of Youth and Religion was generously funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and is under the direction of Christian Smith of the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. For methodological details and related publications, visit: http://www.youthandreligion.org/.

Mars Hill Global

Serving the church and spreading the gospel. Help support this effort by giving to the Global Fund. More info at MarsHillGlobal.com.

From the recent sermon Jesus Without Sin, on Luke 4:1-13.

1. Satan is a real enemy

Satan is a real enemy. Do you believe that? You need to discuss that at your community group and with your friends. If you don’t, if you still think, “I think that’s hocus pocus. I think that’s psychological projection. My community college professor really confused me on this point,” you need to articulate that. Don’t be a liar. Be honest. Come clean.

See, one of the most amazing things Satan did is he presented himself in the media: cartoons, little horns, red cape, and pitchfork. “Here he comes. Yeah, we know it’s him. How can we tell? He’s the red guy.” It’s not that easy. He’s into marketing and advertising. He’s subtle and crafty and sly and he’s very adept at baiting the hook. You have a real enemy. If you don’t believe that, confess that as sin. That’s the beginning of all your troubles. You have a real enemy. You’re born into a real war. You’re born again as a Christian on Christ’s side of the battle. But, the battle rages in your life as it did in his.

(Click here to see the rest of this post)

On March 23 and 24, 2007, Dr. Bruce Ware came to Mars Hill Church in Seattle to speak on issues related to the sovereignty of God. Here is all the media from that event:

Session 1: Uncertain Hands of God and Men: Providence in Process Thought and Open Theism – Bruce Ware

• Video
• Audio
• PDF Handout

Session 2: Independent Hands of God and Men: Providence in Classic Arminianism – Bruce Ware

• Video
• Audio
• PDF Handout

Session 3: Coordinated Hands of God and Men: Providence in the Reformed Tradition – Bruce Ware

• Video
• Audio
• PDF Handout

Dr. Ware is coming to Seattle again this weekend to teach an intensive course on Missional Christology at the Resurgence Training Center. Go to ReTrain.org for more info.

Total Church

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis present a vision for churches centered on gospel community. Find out more.

Ephesians 4:22-27

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

The emotional life of God and his children is very complex. The inner workings of God's heart and the hearts of his saints are not simple.

For example, Exodus 34:6 says that God is "slow to anger" and Psalm 103:9 says that God "will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever." Yet Ps. 7:11 says that "God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation (or anger) every day."

Galatians 4:1-11

Luke 22:31-34

The word of encouragement and consolation and hope that I want to offer you today from God's Word is that, if you love God and are called according to his purpose, if you are despairing of your own resources and looking to Christ for hope, then to you belongs a most wonderful promise: Jesus prays for you and will never let Satan destroy your faith and bring you to ruin. Do you know why we need a message of hope and encouragement the Sunday after Easter? It's because our worst spiritual and emotional collapses often follow in the wake of our happiest most victorious experiences. Maundy Thursday was rich and holy; Good Friday was sober but sweet ("Today you will be with me in paradise"). Easter morning was glorious ("Begotten anew to a living hope through the resurrection"). Easter evening was moving ("No Greater Love"). But then came Monday morning. And I know personally of three of our people whose burdens have brought them to tears this week. It's almost like a law of nature with me. I've gone home at night and said to Noel, "Well, tomorrow is going to be real hard to bear." And she says, "How do you know that?" And I say, "Because today was so great."

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Genesis 3:15

This is the first gospel sermon that was ever delivered upon the surface of this earth. It was memorable discourse indeed, with Jehovah himself for the preacher, and the whole human race and the prince of darkness for the audience. It must be worthy of our heartiest attention.

"And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job."
Job 1:8

How very uncertain are all terrestrial things! How foolish would that believer be who should lay up his treasure anywhere, except in heaven! Job's prosperity promised as much stability as anything can do beneath the moon. The man had round about him a large household of, doubtless, devoted and attached servants. He had accumulated wealth of a kind which does not suddenly depreciate in value. He had oxen, and asses, and cattle. He had not to go to markets, and fairs, and trade with his goods to procure food and clothing, for he carried on the processes of agriculture on a very large scale round about his own homestead, and probably grew within his own territory everything that his establishment required. His children were numerous enough to promise a long line of descendants. His prosperity wanted nothing for its consolidation. It had come to its flood-tide: where was the cause which could make it ebb?