[SERMON] No More Hiding | HOTLWOOD 2026: K-Pop Demon Hunters

In this message, Pastor Cody uses the Netflix film K-Pop Demon Hunters as a jumping-off point to explore one of the most important—and often overlooked—truths of the Christian life: our greatest battles aren't against other people. Drawing from Ephesians 6:12, Genesis 3, and James 5:16, Pastor Cody unpacks how Satan works to twist God's truth, how shame keeps us isolated and in chains, and why confessing our struggles to a trusted, godly friend is one of the most powerful things we can do. If you've ever felt like you're fighting alone—or hiding something you're afraid to say out loud—this message is for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

It's awesome. And today I want to teach you maybe a little bit more about why it's a really good movie, especially for us as Christians, because I think there's some really cool biblical truths that we can pull from this movie. Some things that you might not know is that some of the writers of this movie are Christian. Some of the themes that are present are already in the Bible. So in one of the themes that is through this, just I'll give you a brief overview of the movie without giving away too many spoilers. So the whole point is that these K-pop demon hunters, right? These three uh K-pop demon hunters are in this band called Hunterx, okay? So it's these three girls, and Rumi's the only one you need to know the name of. And uh and uh they what they're their whole point is they're trying to fight demons, okay? And what demons do is they disguise themselves as humans, but you can tell that they're demons because of their patterns on their arms and on their necks and on their face, okay? And for two whole months, my my daughter would come up to me and go, patterns to my tattoos. And I I said, No. No. Uh so but uh the whole the whole point is that they're they're trying they're trying to uh they're trying to take all the souls of the humans and the k-pop demon hunters, they're they're the good guys, they're trying to protect everybody. But Rumi has a secret, she has patterns too, okay? And it's all about shame and what shame does to us and how shame can captivate us. And I think that there's something really cool about K-pop demon hunters that uh applies to us. And it's this the greatest battle is one that you can't see. All right, now when you hear that, I think what a lot of people would probably go is like, yes, everybody has their own battles that they're struggling with, okay? And you just need to give them space. Now that's that's great. I'm not saying that's bad, but what I'm saying is that's not actually at all what I'm talking to you about today. Our battle is spiritual. In fact, the Bible tells us this in Ephesians 6.12, it says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. The reason that this is so important, the reason that this matters to us is because when we fight battles, it's not us versus us. That's really important. That's a really important baseline for us to understand. I'm not fighting a battle against you. Now, how many of you have ever had a conflict with somebody in your life? If you don't raise your hand, you're a liar. Okay? Or you're a hermit. Welcome to the United States. We're glad that you joined us from your private island all by yourself, okay? Right now, being around people means that we're gonna just have conflict at some time, but the reality is that our enemy isn't other people. It's just not. Our battle, if if our battle was against people, the Bible would be telling us about it. It'd be telling us, take up arms and you will fight your neighbor. That's not what it says, right? It says, love God in? That's right. And when it comes down to it, when we understand that our enemy isn't other people, it changes the way that we combat the things that we struggle with in our life. All right? And the reason that that I think that is so important is because at even at the beginning, okay, you guys ready for this? In the beginning, can you say in the beginning? Okay, in the beginning, right at the start of the Bible, we are told that our battle is not actually against other people. There's an adversary. There's an adversary whose whole job it is, is to change what God has said and what truth is. And Genesis 3, 1 tells us this. Now the serpent was the more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say? Did God really say? All right, you must not eat from any tree in the garden. All right, if you if you're not paying attention, I'm gonna give you a spoiler. They eat from that fruit, okay, of the tree that they weren't supposed to. All right, and that's why we're here with clothes on. You're probably some of you are very thankful that we all have clothes on, okay? I, for one, would love to be frolicking in the garden naked, okay. But the truth is, the thing that we know is that from the beginning, from the beginning, Satan has always schemed to twist what God has said. Satan has always schemed to twist what God has said. And it's it's tough because here's the problem about all this. We know that there are things that are true. We know that there are things that are objectively true that God has told us. And it's our job to try and navigate and figure out what truth is. Can you guys say truth on the count of three? One, two, three? Okay, now here's the deal. Here's the deal. Truth is tough for some of us. Okay? It's tough for some of us because sometimes we mix truth and feelings. Okay? And we we sometimes get our emotions and our feelings and things connected with truth, right, that God has designed for us. And if you think this can become some political thing, it's not. I just need you to understand that the Bible's very clear that truth is what we should cling to, and we have to be careful to identify the things that God, that God has put in front of us and the things that Satan is twisting. Just like Satan asked Eve in the garden, did God really say? Right? From the moment that that happened, what Satan is doing is twisting what God has already said. And so you might have a question: how do we identify the lies? How do we identify the lies? Right? Because it's not always easy to tell. In the movie, in K-pop Demon Hunters, it's actually really difficult for them to figure out which ones are the demons and which ones are real people, and then they make a boy band. It's uh you should watch it. You should probably come at seven, okay? I'm just I'm just gonna tell you. Like, I'm gonna do a bad job trying to explain it. You should be here at seven. Watch the movie, okay? Right? But the reality is, the reality about it is that it's hard sometimes to tell when when Satan is disguising something as a lie and making it sound like the truth. And so you go, well, Pastor Cody, I I'm not sure, I'm not sure how. Uh uh maybe some things I believe are true, some things aren't. I'm sure that there's some things that I believe right now that may not align with what God has for me. That's the truth. It might not align with God's truth. It's my job to constantly, consistently go back to God's word and figure it out. And I'll say this, I'll say this. You can't know what God says is truth if you don't listen to his words. And you can't listen to his words if you never crack open your Bible. That's the I mean, that's where where we know God's word is. And so, you know, well, I don't know how to identify it. Well, have you read the Bible? Do you read the scriptures? Because they tell us. They tell us what the truth is. And they help us, and they affirm over and over and over again what truth is. Over and over and over again. They tell us over and over again. The things that are true are reaffirmed over and over and over and over again in scripture. That's that's the reality of the situation. And if we know those things, if we know those things, what we're doing is we're building up a defense against Satan, the adversary of all that God has made and all that is good. The Bible tells us a way that we can do this. Okay, in 1 Peter 5.8, it says this be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. We know this is how Satan works. We know that Satan is constantly on uh on the offensive, trying to trying to twist what God has already said, trying to twist the things that we are supposed to know what are true. Right? Let's just talk about this for a second, and we'll get into it later. But how about self-worth? Like, I have a feeling that most of you out there have a really hard time figuring out what to believe about yourself. Do you know God already told you what to believe? You're like, that seems mindless. No, God already said that you're his son, his daughter, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, that you're a blessing, that you were formed in the womb. Like, those are amazing things. God's already said that. It's truth. You don't even have to question it. When you go, well, I'm not sure about. Well, God already said it. So I'm sorry, but you don't really have the authority to tell yourself that you're not great. Because the truth is, God's already told you. Right? And the problem is we have these battles back and forth all the time. And we we struggle with trying to figure out what's right, what's wrong, what's true, what's lies. And when we're alert, when we're sober-minded, when we're reasonable, what happens is we start to identify them better. I think this is important. We have to remain watchful for things, for things that don't align with God's truth. We do. We just need to, we need to, I get it, me too, right? I'm hungry too. You got any extra milk? Right? Right? We have to remain watchful for things that don't align with God's truth, right? And because right in Genesis 3, we were told the enemy is crafty. Crafty. That means I'm sorry, like I I don't really think I'm even very smart among humans, okay? Like, I'm not even in the top 95%, okay? Right? But when it comes out, I definitely know that I'm not smarter than the devil who's prowling around, but you who is God. So I should probably just trust what he says, right? You go, like, oh, is it that simple? Yeah, it's that simple. We just overcomplicate it, right? Because we like to believe something different. We like to believe that we're capable on our own. We like to believe that we have the strength or the ability or the smarts or the knowledge to be able to conquer all this stuff on our own. We just don't. And we're told what Satan does. We're told very clearly in scripture. John 10, 10, Jesus tells us that, right? He says this about the thief. This is another name that's given to Satan. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life. So if that's what Jesus said, that's what we have to believe. And if we know that Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy, that Satan is a liar, that he's a deceiver, then we know that the schemes that Satan has, that he's crafty, he's good about figuring out how to make us believe that something that's wrong is right. That's how he it's how he got to Eve. Did God really say that? And Eve was like, oh, uh, oh, I don't know. Well, I guess not. And then twisted it and said, well, actually, here's here's what actually happened. Right? God just didn't want you to be like him. Right? I just didn't want you to be like him. Here's what I think, and you know, this is cool. Like, I think I think this is cool because these parallels exist in life. Okay, so look, I want you can you guys look at me for a second? I want I want you to focus on me for a second. I think that there are such incredible parallels with what we're dealing with now and what Adam and Eve were dealing with, and what happened in the movie and what we go through all the time. And I I think the reason that's in scripture is for us to figure out how to conquer it. Because right after Adam and Eve sinned, it says that they were what? Ashamed. They were ashamed. And the reality is that that shame led them to doing things that separated them from God. That shame keeps us from life. And you go, well, okay, well, what does that mean? Because like we've heard shame and guilt. I wanna I want to, if I can, I want to help kind of define this for you, okay? Shame says I'm a bad person. Okay? Guilt says I did a bad thing. And I think that guilt is something that God has given us to identify our sin. And I think shame is something that Satan uses to keep us in chains. Because if I'm a bad person, bad people just do bad things. And here's the other thing when I have shame, I'm not willing to be open about the things I'm struggling with. If I have shame, I've got nobody else knows what I'm going through. Nobody else has ever dealt with this ever in their life. So I'm just gonna keep it to myself and keep it quiet. That's a terrible choice. Because it isolates us. I mean, I love the I love the analogy of a lion because what does a lion do? They find the weakest member of the pack, right, and they attack. And the same is true when we isolate ourselves. What we are doing is we're taking ourselves away from the people who love us, away from the people who have our best at heart and in mind. And what we're doing, what we're doing is we're isolating ourselves in a way that keeps us from doing what God has called us to do and keeps us from the life that Jesus has asked us for. And Jesus directs us to life. That's the truth. And you go, well, okay, well, what does that mean? Well, here's the deal. Jesus, we're already told in scripture, we don't have to like fight a battle. Jesus already won. Do you know that the cross, uh Jesus, life, death, and that that is what gave us victory over Satan and the dominions of darkness? Like, that is actually the truth of scripture. We don't have to fight that battle anymore. We just have to be sober-minded and on guard, knowing that Satan is trying to deceive us. It tells us this very clearly. Romans 8 37 says this in all these things we are more than through him who loved us. So through Jesus, we already have won. Jesus has already won. We don't even have to worry about it. That's the best part about all this. We we live like we're defeated. We're not. We've been given a spirit of hope and and for the God is uh that's Jesus sits on the throne is in charge and has already won. That's the best part about it. Right? And and here's the deal. I I said this last service. I I want you to understand something. Like I grew up in church, and if you didn't grow up in church, I there's there's part of me that is like, I'm glad you're here now, and you don't have to deal with some of the stuff I dealt with growing up in church. Like also, there's part of me that's like some of the best experiences I've ever in my life, and I wouldn't be where I am today without the church. So I it's I have this very weird relationship, and I think some of you who may have grown up in church probably have feel the same. People that I grew up with in church were not nice to me. Okay. One, I some of it was my fault. I'm I was not a good kid, okay? I'll just be honest with you, okay? I take on that responsibility that I was a little cantankerous, okay? But I also love Jesus. And what I watched was the people who said that they love Jesus the most behave like Jesus the least. And what I saw was these these simple patterns develop over time of people that would say, This is what Jesus wants from you. And I would go and read what Jesus did, and I go, one of these doesn't belong here. I just didn't know. I'm like, there's a miss. There's a miss somewhere. Somewhere in here, there's a misfire. That the Jesus you want me to love is saying different things than what you're telling me. And when it came to, when it came to shame and guilt and sin, what I was really what I was raised on was this idea that you don't tell anybody. You just you don't tell anybody, you just keep it quiet. If you're dealing with something, that's a I mean, I'm some of you grew up in churches like that. If you're dealing with sin, that's you. That's on you. That's a very deep personal thing. We don't deal with that. You don't deal with that sin. We don't you we don't need you to be bringing that in here. You just uh you deal with your sin yourself. And then I watch Jesus sit next to sinners and tell them how much value they had, how much he loved them, how incredible they were, and basically give them the keys to the kingdom. And there's this clip at the end of the movie where Rumi kind of she she's got she's got this moment where her patterns are exposed and like she feels ashamed and she's kept it from her friends, and her friends just wanted to be there for her. And can I say this too? I I in like 15 years of being a pastor, 15 plus years, however long I've been, I don't know, I'm getting older. Uh in all the time that I've been a pastor, when some I've never once had somebody come to me and go, I'm struggling with this thing, and I was like, ew. Right? And I mean, I gotta be honest with you, I don't think any of you, I don't think any of you would do the same either. If somebody came to you and said, I'm really struggling with something, you'd be like, okay, I'm here to help. So why do we believe that people would respond differently? I mean, that's the craziest thing. It's because Satan has lied to us over and over and over again to make us believe that when we confess our sins one to another, that people will reject us. And that's just not the case. The body of Christ has been built so that we can be honest about the things that we have shortcomings with, and we can walk through them together. But in this clip, there's this moment. Rumi has Rumi has this uh stepmom who has been raising her, her mom passed away, and who basically has told her her whole life to keep her patterns covered, to keep that nobody will understand. You should be ashamed of these, keep them covered, and don't tell anybody. And it all comes to this like screeching halt because she's exposed. Uh all of her sin and her shame are exposed, and she feels like everybody's leaving her. And uh, I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't seen it, but uh, this moment is so powerful because I I feel like I've had these exact moments with people where they go, no, no, no, you can't you can't talk about that. We can't be honest about it. We go keep it hidden, keep it, keep it covered. And and this is the moment she has.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

They saw. They know. There's no denying it now. This is what I am, Rumi.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

No, I can't. When we lost your mother, I swore to protect all that was left of her. But I never thought that I would be a child like you. Everything I was taught told me you were wrong. But I made a promise. So I did my best to accept you and help you. Accept me? You told me to cover up, to hide, yes, until we can fix everything. And we still can. We can cover those up and put everything right again. I'll tell Mira and Zoe that it was all a lie, an illusion by Tima to break us apart. No, no more hiding, no more lies, Rumi.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

We can still fix this. Don't you get it? This is what I am. Look at me. Why can't you look at me? Why couldn't you love me? I do.

SPEAKER_05 19:39

This is why we have to hide it. Our faults and fears must never be seen. It's the only way to protect the horny one.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

If this is the hormone I'm supposed to protect, I'm glad to see it destroyed.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

And that's how a whole generation of people became youth pastors. Uh, I'm just kidding. Uh so no, I mean, like, I think when it comes down to it, I I think that for me, when I realize these things and I realize that our battle isn't against flesh and blood, like my battle is not with people, and my battle is against sin, it changes everything about how I approach people. And it changes the way I approach my own sin. Because I I realize that, like, I need to fight against my own sin. And and and I I think that one of the biggest lies that Satan feeds us is that we need to hide our sin. That's what I think. I I really believe that. I believe that the best way for Satan to keep us in chains, to keep us down, to keep us from living life the way God's designed is for him to convince us that what we're doing nobody else has gone through. Nobody else understands. And so I think one of the biggest lies that Satan feeds us is to hide our sin away. And I that couldn't be further from the truth. Here is here's what I think. I think that we need to embrace that we are sinners, but not embrace sin. I think I I I've heard some pastors recently go like, everybody has sin, and and and I I agree, like every I have sin. But we can't be okay with that. We have to cling to the idea that like we're flawed and we have a perfect savior who calls us to better. Here at Heart of the Lakes, I one of the things I love about our church, one of the things that I've always struggled with at other churches that I've been at, and I'm not knocking any other churches, I'm saying specifically churches that I've been a pastor at, is this idea that like we just all we're here to do is get people to just uh say we love Jesus. He died on a cross, uh, save me, and we're good. Like, and and the idea that we're just supposed to get a bunch of converts, right? A bunch of little mini Christians walking around. And and kind of the thing that I one of the things I love the most about our church, about you here, is that that's not the goal. The goal is that's the first step. And then what we're called to is life change in community with one another. And I I think that's really I think that matters. And so my question is like, what does that actually mean for you? Like as you sit here, as you uh you absorb some of this, uh, I think this this is really important. Acknowledging our sin allows God's grace to be shown. When we acknowledge our sin, what we're doing is we're saying, okay, God, I know I'm not perfect, I know I need you. This is a thing that I gotta hang up on, and I want I I want it to be fixed because I want to live life the way that you've designed me to live it. And uh whether you've got shame or guilt or something that's keeping you from like being honest about the things you're messing with right now, or the things that you know are keeping you from being closer, like with the Lord, like those things that give you distance, right? Like, I there's a really simple remedy, and I I want to tell you, this has always been the case. This will always be the case for us as followers of Christ. This is the most valuable thing you can do when it comes to sin. Okay, James 15 tells us this. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. And we're not Catholic here, okay? Like you're welcome to tell Kyle and I the things that you're struggling with, but I'll just be honest with you. I know from where you're sitting, that could be really, really daunting. So find a friend. Find a friend. Like God who loves Jesus. Tell a godly friend this week what you're struggling with. It's that simple. Like you don't have to sit behind some faceless booth and say, like, I confessed this and then be gone and told to do something about it. I'm not knocking anything uh with that. That process is incredible for people who are invested in it. But I will say this like, you don't have to do that to make the first step of confessing something you're struggling with. And I I would be willing to bet, I mean, I'm not a I'm I'm not a mind reader, but I'd be willing to bet that most of you here in this room have something you probably have unresolved, something that you probably need to walk through, and something you just need to go tell somebody about. Like, hey, I'm really struggling with this blank. And can you just be praying for me? And ask that person to have you a follow-up text. You tell of a godly friend what you're struggling with, it'll completely change your life. And I'm gonna tell you this it'll allow you to be free. It just will. There is something so unburdening about telling somebody a sin that you've been struggling with. It's like your body just sometimes like I I remember I had this thing I was dealing with, I finally got the courage up to tell my friends, and my body, I just I like my body, it felt like my whole body broke down. Like, and I was like sobbing, like, oh, this burden, because you don't realize the weight until it's gone. Right? So here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. Okay, on your connection cards. Uh, I if this is some this is really not for us, like this isn't this is not one of the connection cards where like you're writing something and you you want us to like follow up. This is more, I this is really for you. It I think there's a good uh exercise in having you write something down because it gives you it gives you a little bit of accountability for yourself, but I just want you to write confess, confess. It's that simple. If you if if you're if you're if you're this week, you know that you need to go tell somebody who loves the Lord something that you're struggling with and you need to unburden yourself. My my challenge to you today is just write confess on your connection card and turn it in. Turn it in so it's it's an accountability for you. And when when we as a staff, when we see those, we're just gonna be praying for you. We're not gonna be trying to figure out what the sin is, okay? That's just not how it works. Okay, so get that out of your head right now. Like we just want you to be a place where you're free and where you feel unburdened by that. And I promise, I promise you will feel unburdened if you find a godly friend this week and you tell them what you're struggling with. Because that's the first step in figuring out how to be free from it. Let's pray. God, thanks so much. Thank you so much for everything that you've done for us and God, that you're doing in us. And God, we just ask that you would remind us of the great community that we have of believers and that we would confess our sins one to another. That we would realize that like we're not battling against the world, we're not battling against people, we're battling against sin itself and the deception that Satan has when it comes to what is actually sin and what we need to do about it. God, today I ask that you're continuing to work in the hearts and the minds and the lives of the people who are here. God, we ask all these things in your name. Amen. Alright, so I'm making extra cards. You're gonna grip it and rip it. That was I get why he has trouble with it. I get why he has trouble with it. I'll never make fun of him again. Uh that's not true. Uh okay, so we have a derpy count. Who's ready? Yeah, yeah, I have Julie. All right, we have a derpy count. The derpy count is 26. 24 28. So I I read that and I reckon Linda's playing tricks on me. All right, 28. Who got 28? Raise your hand. Nice. Yeah, way to go. Jeff Betz got it. I'm glad you're paying attention all the time, Jeff. Right? Oh, did you get it too? Way to go. Hey, join us tonight at 7 o'clock p.m. Uh uh voiceover guy. Take it away.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Okay. We thank you for attending this morning's worship service for our Hoddlewood movie series. We invite you to come back next week as our movie series will continue here at HODL. Uh yeah, don't forget K-pop demon hunters tonight at 7 p.m. So go forth. Love God and see y'all tonight at 7 p.m.