The Series: Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

In one paragraph

Brian opened a new series of conversations that will move back and forth between Galatians and Leviticus, using the Thunderdome image from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome to frame a central question: when your will and God's will enter the arena together, only one can walk out. The message started in Matthew 12, where Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees immediately...

Read together

1. Matthew 12:12-14 opening text on Jesus healing the withered hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees plotting to kill him
2. Romans 8:7 the carnal or flesh-governed mind is hostile to God and cannot submit to his law
3. Galatians 2:15-21 main text on justification by faith in Christ rather than by observing the law
4. Exodus 40:34-38 background text on the cloud and glory of the Lord filling the completed tabernacle
5. Leviticus 1:1-17 introduction to the burnt offering instructions as the start of the Leviticus series
6. Exodus 33:7-11 the tent of meeting outside the camp where anyone could inquire of the Lord and Moses spoke with God face to face
7. Galatians 2:20 closing text on the old self crucified with Christ and Christ living in the believer

Talk about it

1. The Pharisees had watched a miracle happen right in front of them and still walked away plotting how to kill Jesus. What does that tell you about the limits of what seeing or knowing the right things can do for a person?
2. Brian read from Galatians 2 that 'the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God and cannot submit to God's law.' Where do you see that show up in your own life, not just in obvious ways but in the quieter, more respectable ones?
3. Reading through Leviticus 1, the sacrificial system was precise, costly, and involved real death. What do you think is lost when we treat forgiveness as something we can access quickly and move on from, compared to what it would have felt like to bring an animal to the altar?
4. Brian drew a line between condemnation from the enemy, which he described as a broad brush attack on your character, and conviction from the Holy Spirit, which he said zeroes in on one specific thing and calls you toward Jesus rather than away from him. Have you experienced that difference? What did it feel like?
5. Brian described every decision as a kind of Thunderdome where your will and God's will cannot both walk out. Is there an area in your life right now where you are still trying to let both walk out?