Welcome back to our small group study! John Barnett here. I want you to imagine we are sitting right across the table from each other, maybe at Panera, Starbucks, or Chipotle, with our Bibles open and our notebooks ready.
Today, I am incredibly excited to introduce a class that addresses a daily reality many believers have never been taught: the invisible war against spiritual terrorists. If you want to know how to identify the enemy’s attacks and actively extinguish them in your daily life, you absolutely must join us for this lesson. Let me walk you through three memorable, life-changing truths we will unpack together:
1. Spiritual Terrorists and the Flaming Arrows of the Enemy
Scripture References: Ephesians 6; Genesis 3.
Summary of What’s Covered: We kick off week 42 of our study by looking at the spiritual armor found in Ephesians 6. I will open my personal journal and share my summary title for this chapter: "God warns that we live in a world filled with deadly arrows shot at us daily". We will discover that Satan has well-placed archers shooting flaming darts of anger, pride, fear, despair, jealousy, and impure thoughts at us every single day. Just as we saw with Satan’s attack on Eve back in Genesis 3, the enemy’s ultimate goal is incredibly simple: to make us doubt God’s goodness, distrust His plan, and disobey His Word.
2. The Wedge of Doubt and the Discipline of Waiting
Scripture References: Hebrews 11 (Without faith it is impossible to please God).
Summary of What’s Covered: Next, we will explore the profound damage these flaming arrows can cause if they land. Satan wants to use his fiery pitch to drive a wedge between you and your spouse, your children, your employer, your church family, and ultimately, your Heavenly Father. We will tackle the real struggles we face when we doubt God’s timing—asking why He isn’t helping us right now—and learn that God often makes us do the hardest thing: wait. He does this intentionally so that we must completely lean on Him and learn to trust His perfect goodness.
3. The Shield of Faith and the Power of Close Community
Scripture References: Romans (The church meeting in a home).
Summary of What’s Covered: Finally, we will look at our primary defense: the shield of faith, which simply means holding on to the truth of God and acting upon it even when it is completely unseen. I will also share a wonderful story from a recent trip Bonnie and I took to the archaeological ruins of ancient Corinth. We discovered that the early church there met in Roman homes that couldn’t hold more than 100 people, perfectly aligning with Paul’s letter in Romans commending the church that met in a house. This proves exactly why we desperately need close, small-group community. You need friends close enough to look you in the eye and ask the tough questions: "Are you really reading your Bible?" and "What verse are you memorizing this week?".
If you want to survive the dark days we live in and take up the shield of faith to extinguish the enemy’s fiery darts, you need to grab your Bible, get your spiritual armor ready, and let’s take up the shield of faith together!
From FTGC-42a – https://youtu.be/E9Qufqfnbfc
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