Brothels and pubs were fixtures in every city of ancient Roman society. Then, as now, people engaged in illicit sex and alcohol use to numb the pain of life. Brothels were staffed primarily by male and female slaves, some of whom were “exposed at birth” as unwanted children and then claimed by brothels to be raised as sex workers. Pubs were popular because most of the poor had no cooking facilities, so they spent much of their time in pubs, where gambling, fighting, prostitution, and drunkenness were the norm. The Apostle Paul, writing within the Roman world, addressed these issues with timeless warnings. This teaching will challenge you to identify ways you’re numbing out and filling yourself with deceptive temptations instead of emptying yourself and making room for God’s Spirit.

• What was your biggest takeaway from the teaching? 
• Why do you think sex is one of the places evil is so successful at leading people into sin and bondage?   
• What are one or two of the most common ways you numb out and fill your life with distractions? (Think work, substances, bad habits, etc.) 
• What are some of the things that need to be emptied out of your life so God’s Spirit has room to dwell within you? 
• How will you begin living out the truths of this teaching this week? 

• The Other Side of History: Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Robert Garland 
• Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook by Jennifer Larson 
• Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture by Marilyn B. Skinner 
• Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing by Jay Stringer 

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