Sermon

Made For Mission: What's My Message?

Eastwood Baptist Sunday Sermons

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  1. We're in week three of our series titled, you got it, Made for Mission.

  2. And today we're looking, answering that question, what's my message,

  3. right? Two weeks ago, we kicked it off by saying that we are all called.

  4. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done.

  5. God has an exciting plan that he's mapped out for your life, for my life, right?

  6. And then last week, we said that, okay, if I'm called, if I'm so called,

  7. so what now, basically? We walked through the huge question of last week of

  8. what's my mission now, right? What's my mission?

  9. And we shared that ultimately our mission is Jesus's mission,

  10. if you remember, and it must be our first priority. And then everything falls into place after that.

  11. And still, it's so easy, is it not, for us to get off track with competing missions.

  12. And we talked about that last week and lose our life focus. In fact,

  13. in this next slide this morning, today, we're going to spend time answering

  14. again the question, what's my message?

  15. What do I actually say while living on mission?

  16. If you're already a Christian, then this is at the very heart of following Jesus.

  17. If you're just checking out this whole God, church, Jesus thing,

  18. then you need to know as you truly, as you try to figure out,

  19. do I or don't I, will I or won't I become a Christian, that this is crucial

  20. to being a follower of Jesus.

  21. This part of your mission is not natural.

  22. It's something that you and I must be intentional or you'll miss what you're

  23. made for. You'll miss what you're made for otherwise.

  24. A pastor friend of mine shared with me that he had been taken Spanish courses online.

  25. Anybody ever took Spanish courses before? He told me that he called a high school

  26. student that he had met throughout the week, and his mother actually answered the phone in Spanish.

  27. And it was obvious, he said, that she didn't speak any English.

  28. And he said, I thought this is my chance, my chance right here to show off all

  29. that I've learned in this course I've taken, but instead he said he froze and he fell miserably.

  30. And I think at one point he said, I mentioned to her that I like to dance with cats.

  31. I mean, do you ever feel like sharing Jesus is like speaking in a different language?

  32. I mean, you just can't seem to get the words out or you're pretty sure that

  33. you're confusing the other person more than you're helping them.

  34. You could be talking with a neighbor about sports and it's easy,

  35. but the moment you bring up God, it's like you're playing chubby bunny.

  36. Anybody remember playing that in youth group before?

  37. You're playing chubby bunny with 10 marshmallows in your mouth.

  38. They probably outlawed that now. But anyway, I mean, it's just that weird, do you think?

  39. And if you can relate at all to that, then today's message, today's passage,

  40. actually, that we're looking at, that we're studying should greatly encourage you.

  41. Because we're going to look at the same story from two different perspectives.

  42. You can start, first of all, by turning to Mark chapter 5, and later we'll transition

    Mark 5 chapter mention

  43. to Luke chapter 8. Two different perspectives of the same story.

    Luke 8 chapter mention

  44. But let's start with Mark chapter 5. We're going to look at verses 1 and 2.

    Mark 5 chapter mention

  45. Mark 5, verses 1 and 2.

    Mark 5:1

  46. It says, they went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.

  47. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

  48. That they went across the Sea of Galilee is hugely significant.

  49. This was where non-Jews lived, church.

  50. It's traced all the way back to the Old Testament when the Israelites,

  51. you probably remember this from our study in Joshua even, they did not complete

  52. their job of clearing out all of the promised land like God had commanded them to do.

  53. And there were the descendants of the people that they let stay.

  54. Young Jewish boys, in other words, did not travel to the other side of the lake.

  55. And most scholars actually believe that the disciples were somewhere around

  56. 15 to 17 years old at this point.

  57. Apparently, for Jesus, the youth pastor, safety at all costs were not one of his core values.

  58. As soon as they get out of the boat here, what do they come upon?

  59. They come upon a demon-possessed guy, and he approaches them,

  60. and the disciples are thinking, you know, this place is worse than we thought.

  61. I bet everybody here is like this. That might have been the thoughts.

  62. I don't know for sure. Back on the boat, you know, let's get back on the boat.

  63. Jesus, though, he didn't react that way. Check out what happens next.

  64. Let's look at verses three through five.

  65. It says, this man lived in the tombs. That's kind of weird, right?

  66. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.

  67. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and

  68. broke the irons on his feet.

  69. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in

  70. the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

  71. That tells you right there, you

  72. read that passage, there was something supernatural going on right here.

  73. And as we see in this next slide, I want y'all to get this today,

  74. that just because someone has rejected God before doesn't mean they will this time. Amen?

  75. The average person, Eastwood, who receives Christ has already had 17 unique

  76. spiritual encounters before.

  77. You have no idea where you fit in that and the impact that your words are making.

  78. God is far more concerned, though, with your obedience than your impact.

  79. Are you willing? Are you willing to make yourself available?

  80. You see, this demon-possessed guy apparently had a past, right?

  81. But it didn't seem to bother Jesus, did it?

  82. Notice also that this saying got intense really fast.

  83. I mean, you never know when you're going to have an opportunity to share,

  84. so you better be ready at all times, right?

  85. Skip over to Luke 8 real quick to see what happens next.

  86. Luke 8, we're going to look at verses 28 and 29 of Luke 8.

  87. It says, When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet.

  88. Shouting at the top of his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

  89. I beg you, don't torture me. For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man.

  90. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept

  91. under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

  92. Notice the man's question here though. What do you want to do with me?

  93. What do you want to do with me?

  94. Now I realize here this guy's demon possessed and I

  95. realize sometimes his thoughts are not just his thoughts and

  96. we can look at this and we can see yes this demon may be asking this question

  97. as well right through the man but the man's there too and Jesus is there so

  98. he's able to ask the man questions and I think too he's able to subdue the demon

  99. if he needs to to get an answer from the man as well,

  100. but he hears this question, what do you want to do with me?

  101. You step into this guy's life if you can for just a moment today, think on it.

  102. He fully expects Jesus, don't you think, to say or do something horrible to him.

  103. This man expects some kind of torture, whether it's through this demon convincing

  104. him of that or the demon himself speaking out, you know, with Jesus here.

  105. He expects some kind of torture. Why?

  106. Because think about it, if you put yourself in this guy's shoes,

  107. This is all he's ever known.

  108. His experiences with people have probably only ever been bad.

  109. This passage says that he was often in chains.

  110. Let me just give us a flash quiz here. Just an info, I should say, maybe a bulletin here.

  111. He didn't put himself in chains, did he? Who did?

  112. Other people did, right? And in the cemetery of all places, right?

  113. You unpack that. How significant is that?

  114. He's chained in a cemetery.

  115. Think about it for a moment. How more clearly can you communicate outside of

  116. killing something that I wish you were dead?

  117. Why won't you just die already, right? I mean, even more painful,

  118. you think about this for a moment.

  119. If you were in his shoes, even more painful is the fact that his family must

  120. have allowed it to happen.

  121. Maybe they thought there was no other way. I don't know. This guy has nobody, though.

  122. Disgust, isolation, fear, rejection, all those emotions coming down.

  123. Oh, and he has several demons inside of him, right? In fact,

  124. more than several, right?

  125. And what do you want with me?

  126. He's prepared for the worst. But I want you to look at how Jesus responds. Look at Luke 8, verse 30.

    Luke 8:30

  127. Luke 8, verse 30. Jesus asked him, what is your name?

    Luke 8:30

  128. What is your name what was

  129. the reply legion he replied because

  130. many demons had gone into him now again

  131. the demon may have been speaking this to jesus i

  132. mean that's the way a lot of people interpret this too right i

  133. mean but the guys also jesus is communicating

  134. with this guy as well and he it's not just the

  135. demon that's there this guy is there and so

  136. he asked what is your name jesus wanted to know his name

  137. and you know the demon man just piped up

  138. said Legion or he may have just thought Legion we don't

  139. know we know he was full of demons but the man is so overpowered by demons that

  140. he doesn't even know his real name does he he just calls himself Legion and

  141. can someone's life think about this for a moment seems so hopeless that they forget their identity.

  142. In fact, their identity that God gave them, as we learned back in Genesis, right?

  143. And instead, it created in the image of God that they have worth and unique

  144. value, and instead labeled themselves possibly as ugly, worthless, alone, evil.

  145. You know, a guy told a story I remember reading about watching the finals of

  146. American Ninja Warrior. I don't know anybody here ever watched that. I don't know.

  147. American Ninja Warrior. and he said there

  148. was just one guy that got through that crazy obstacle course

  149. when he was watching and he happened to work for a catholic church

  150. and they asked him afterwards how how did it feel for him having a bunch of

  151. priests that were there rooting for him and he responded this way he shared

  152. in the article he said it's a great reminder of who i am i am loved and wow

  153. i mean i thought for a moment,

  154. you know, like his identity was being loved by others and God, right?

  155. That's why he won, this guy said, and because of his huge python biceps as well.

  156. That played a part, he said, but as you stop and think about that,

  157. he had somebody that was cheering him on, that loved him, that cared for him.

  158. And in Luke chapter 8 here, verse 32 and 33, look at that for a moment.

    Luke 8 chapter mention

  159. It says, a large herd of pigs were feeding on the hillside.

  160. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.

  161. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs,

  162. and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

  163. Now, I just got to say, this is the last point here as you look up here on the TV.

  164. Anything apart from Jesus ultimately leads to death.

  165. Come on, think about it. Anything apart from Jesus ultimately leads to death.

  166. You see, the man gets to see right in front of him where the voices in his head

  167. were leading him the whole time.

  168. Where was that to? Death.

  169. Destruction, right? The truth is today, Eastwood, Satan hates you,

  170. and he has a horrible plan for your life.

  171. In fact, John 10, verse 10 says, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

    John 10:10

  172. But I have come, Jesus said, to give you life and life to the full.

  173. You know, some translations say abundantly. You know what the abundant life

  174. is, the full life, right?

  175. It's that roller coaster ride. That's the ups and the downs,

  176. the valleys and the mountaintops. That's abundance.

  177. That's a full life. Amen?

  178. But he gives us life abundantly. In fact, in that culture, another name for

  179. the water in a lake was the abyss or death.

  180. So as we see in this next slide, the man asked the question.

  181. Jesus, what do you want with me? Well, first of all, as you see,

  182. what did he say? I want to know your name.

  183. I want to help you. Think about it.

  184. Everyone else, church, wanted to bind him and keep him away.

  185. But Jesus came to do what? He came to free him.

  186. He came to free him. He cared infinitely more about this man than the mess that he had just created.

  187. And it was definitely messy. I mean, you can see the story here.

  188. It was a messy situation, right?

  189. There wasn't just a herd of pigs drowning.

  190. Think about it if you thought about this, but this is somebody's livelihood

  191. at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee.

  192. To Jesus, this man's life was a bigger deal than that.

  193. Jesus showed that he cares even if it's messy.

  194. Now, granted, they probably did maybe go down and get those pigs.

  195. I don't know. They might have been scared of it by then, but they drowned.

  196. You know, I don't know. but maybe they tried to harvest some of their meat.

  197. I'm not sure, but it was still a major deal that happened.

  198. Even if it's not the popular decision, church, or he might get some flack for

  199. it, Jesus showed that he cares, even when it's messy.

  200. Are we afraid to get messy? Are we afraid to get involved in somebody else's

  201. life for the furtherance of the gospel?

  202. Look at Luke chapter 8, verses 34 and 35, Luke 8, 34, 35.

    Luke 8:34

  203. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported

  204. this in the town and countryside.

  205. And the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus,

  206. they found the man for whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus's feet.

  207. Dressed and in his right mind.

  208. And they all celebrated and threw a party. Is that what it says? What does it say?

  209. They were afraid. Remember that this whole series is, this whole scene,

  210. I should say, here in this particular passage is with a naked crazy dude.

  211. We would probably run and call the cops for indecent exposure.

  212. And I'm not saying if you're in that situation, you're supposed to go hug them.

  213. But Jesus definitely saw him differently, did he not?

  214. The man didn't have any clothes, but now he does.

  215. Where do you think he got them? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that they were

  216. from Jesus or one of his disciples.

  217. He cared about this guy's reputation and how people saw him.

  218. What do you want with me? I want to know your name. I want to help you.

  219. And then I want a relationship with you.

  220. As the man here, as we see in this passage, he said at Jesus's feet,

  221. what do you think they talked about? Have you ever thought about that?

  222. A great question, I think, to ask anytime you're reading the Bible and it says

  223. they were talking and it really doesn't give you specifics.

  224. It says, you know, like, what do you imagine that conversation was about being

  225. in the context that it is? I mean, we don't know for sure.

  226. I'm just guessing, but don't you think the man somewhere in that conversation

  227. there probably asked, so who are you and how can I be saved?

  228. How can I follow you? Right? I mean, look at verses 36 and 37 of Luke chapter 8.

    Luke 8 chapter mention

  229. It says, those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.

  230. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasins asked Jesus to leave them

  231. because they were overcome with fear.

  232. So he got into the boat and he left. Isn't that tragic?

  233. We think that, wow, I mean, they asked Jesus to leave. He had just delivered

  234. this man, right? I I mean, he had just set him free.

  235. He's in his right mind and fear takes over.

  236. I think that's crazy on a couple of levels as we see in this next slide.

  237. The first one is that the people there were just not ready, were they?

  238. They just weren't ready. Their hearts weren't ready.

  239. Notice that Jesus didn't try to reason with them. He didn't try to win an argument.

  240. He didn't pull off some miracle and make demons go into them as punishment.

  241. Or he didn't have the pigs fly back up out of the water and be resurrected onto the land.

  242. He just said, okay, and he left.

  243. Here's an even crazier implication though. I want y'all to get this today.

  244. Jesus came all the way to the other side of the lake for this one guy.

  245. I know y'all probably heard this before, but who's your one guy or one lady

  246. or one child? Who's your one?

  247. You see, if you read the passage before this one, you find that the disciples,

  248. you know, almost died in a storm on the way over. You remember that?

  249. Jesus believed, church, that this one demon-possessed guy was worth it.

  250. You are worth it, he was saying. The person that you've been working up the

  251. nerve today, church, to start up a spiritual conversation with,

  252. I want you to know, is worth it. They are worth it.

  253. Luke 8, verses 38 and 39, listen to this.

    Luke 8:38

  254. It says, the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, to go with Jesus, right?

  255. But Jesus sent him away saying, return home and tell how much God has done for you.

  256. So the man went away and he told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

  257. You see, at first reaction, when we read that, maybe it seems pretty cold to start with.

  258. What does this man have in that area, right? What does he have?

  259. I mean, he just asked Jesus, can I please go with you, right?

  260. But he only has in this area, what, a really bad reputation.

  261. He walks back into town. You can imagine it. Everyone knows his past.

  262. A year from now, maybe he's dating a young woman and he's talking to the dad.

  263. And he like scratches his head. And he says, wait, aren't you the guy that used

  264. to run around the cemetery like a crazy person naked?

  265. Yeah stay away from my daughter right

  266. he wants to go with jesus and jesus rejects him it seems but that's not totally

  267. accurate is it the actual words in this passage is jesus sent him away you see

  268. this guy's been a christian for maybe five and a half minutes doesn't he need more training.

  269. Instead, what does Jesus do, Eastwood? Jesus gives him a mission.

  270. Come on. He gives him a mission. Return home and tell how much God has done for you.

  271. Can we do that today, church? Can we go in Babinet, Alabama or wherever you

  272. make your home and tell others how much Jesus has done for you?

  273. I'd take that to mean, go tell your family about what happened today.

  274. Instead, you know what he did? He went away above and beyond that,

  275. above and beyond Jesus' instructions even, and he shared his testimony all over the entire region.

  276. That area, by the way, is called the Decapolis because it was made up actually

  277. of 10 cities that were all together.

  278. He went all over the place, in other words, and told people how much Jesus had

  279. done for him. You see, as we see in this next slide, this is the question again.

  280. What's my message? It's simple, to share how God's goodness has intersected with my life.

  281. How many of you think you can do that today?

  282. To share with somebody how God's goodness has intersected with your life?

  283. What did Jesus do and how has it personally impacted my life? Can you do that?

  284. That's the message, church, that we're supposed to be ready with.

  285. You know, as I think about that, I think about our testimony.

  286. I think about your testimony.

  287. Like, what was your life like before you accepted Christ?

  288. I mean, we think about this demon-possessed guy today. We know what his life

  289. was described as like before Christ. What was your life like?

  290. How did you hear the word? How did you get the call from Jesus?

  291. I want to know you. I want to know your name.

  292. I want a relationship with you. How did you discover that? How did God work

  293. in your heart to show you your need for him?

  294. And you repent and put your faith and trust in Jesus. Can you tell somebody

  295. your story? You know, it's not really hard, is it?

  296. Now, obviously, we run into situations where we're, you know,

  297. it's like I was talking about earlier, you know, it's like we think it's speaking

  298. a different language somehow.

  299. But when we're just telling somebody our story of how we've been forgiven, right?

  300. I kind of use these little stepping stones. And by the way, we're going to be

  301. starting a evangelism training course that Brother Aaron and I are going to

  302. tag team with starting April 23rd on Wednesday night.

  303. And it's going to be the way of the master evangelism training we're going to share with you.

  304. But there's four stepping stones that I like to stay on, and we're going to

  305. go more in detail down the road on these.

  306. But I always think about this because, have you ever read that book,

  307. Not My Will? Have you ever read that old book?

  308. Classic, okay, I don't see many hands going up. But one of the things that was

  309. brought about in that book, and I think you've probably seen bracelets to this

  310. effect, is what would Jesus do? Asking yourself that question, right?

  311. And instead of that, we kind of look at what Jesus actually did in scripture.

  312. That's why it's called the way of the master, what he did.

  313. And instead of using the WWJD, we use the WDJD, what did Jesus do?

  314. Not what would he do, but what did he do? And that's where we get the way of the master.

  315. So I use the stepping stones there that we'll talk about down the road more,

  316. but one of them is, would you consider yourself to be a good person?

  317. Because scripture says that most people proclaim their own goodness.

  318. If somebody walked up to you on the street today and asked you if you were a

  319. good person, you likely would tell them what?

  320. Likely, right? But in truth, if I turn this on myself, church,

  321. you know, I was not a good person.

  322. Because why? Because the Bible says there is none good, not even one.

  323. Nobody's good except God, right? And we're talking about that word good is like moral perfection.

  324. I mean, it's like there's no sin, period, right? It's perfection.

  325. There's none good. And when you realize that you're not good and you're humbled

  326. with that by looking in a mirror. How many of you like to look in mirrors?

  327. I don't see a lot of hands going up. But how many of you do look in the mirror

  328. at least once in the morning? Why do you do it?

  329. To see what you need to fix, right? In other words, you want to look in that

  330. mirror to see yourself in truth, right?

  331. And sometimes, you know, I don't know about you sometimes, but I have looked

  332. in the mirror and it's like, you know, it's like, it's scary.

  333. But anyway, it's a scary thing, but it tells us what we need to fix,

  334. right? It shows us ourselves in truth.

  335. Like, do I have this hair out of place? Like this cowl, whatever it is, right?

  336. And we can address it, hopefully. Or I need to brush my teeth,

  337. right? Or I need to shave, whatever I need to do.

  338. But you know, God's law is like a mirror.

  339. So we think, would you consider yourself a good person? No, nobody's good but God.

  340. I'm not perfect. Well, the good way to see that is by looking into the mirror,

  341. which is God's law, the Ten Commandments.

  342. And so we could even look at this. Do you think you've kept the Ten Commandments? That's the deed.

  343. Would you consider yourself to be a good person? Do you think you've kept the

  344. Ten Commandments? So you're looking in that mirror.

  345. Let me just turn it on myself here for a moment.

  346. See, I didn't become a Christian until I realized that, first of all, I was not good.

  347. I needed Jesus. I realized that I had lied. I had stolen. I had not honored my parents.

  348. I had wanted things other people had that I didn't have.

  349. I hadn't always thought purely. I haven't always put God first. You just name it.

  350. Because when you're looking at a mirror, man, if you break one part of it,

  351. guess what? Scripture says you broke it all because it's all one whole, right?

  352. And so when we see ourselves in truth, we realize that without Christ, we are hopeless.

  353. And that really affects where we're going to spend eternity,

  354. doesn't it? And that's our destiny. That's the D.

  355. Where are we going to spend eternity? You think in light of that,

  356. in light of the fact that you are not good, that you're a sinner in need of

  357. a Savior, where are you going to spend eternity?

  358. Well, the bottom line is, unless we repent and put our faith and trust in Christ

  359. and what he did for us, our destiny is going to be hell, right?

  360. That's our default destiny.

  361. Until we repent, put our faith and trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross,

  362. and then our destiny can be heaven because Jesus paid the fine for us on the cross.

  363. We can have that eternal destiny with him and have a safe future.

  364. Because when we face God on Judgment Day, that's the last little stepping stone,

  365. Judgment Day, we'll realize that it is because of Christ's righteousness in

  366. us and not anything good that we've done that we're accepted into his family.

  367. So y'all, you could just share this in your own personal story.

  368. Again, how you came to faith in Christ, how you realized you were not good,

  369. that you were a sinner in need of a Savior,

  370. and you realize that if you had kept going down that path, that you would spend

  371. eternity in hell, and you repented, and you turned around, you did an about

  372. face, turned away from your sin, you turned to God, you turned to Christ,

  373. saying, Lord, forgive me a sinner.

  374. I need what you have. I need your righteousness.

  375. I need your forgiveness. And you can be delivered.

  376. You can share that with somebody. Your simple story was just in two or three minutes or less.

  377. And one last thing. Let me share this with you as we close. It's incredibly

  378. cool. Look at Mark chapter 7, verse 31.

    Mark 7:31

  379. I just had to share this. Please be patient just a moment. Mark 7, 31.

  380. Listen to this part of the story. Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went

  381. through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of Decapolis.

  382. Remember those 10 cities where this demon-possessed guy was sent on mission? Y'all remember that?

  383. Jesus went back. And in Mark 8, we read that the feeding of the 4,000 happened

  384. in that region. He comes back a little bit later.

  385. And 4,000 men, probably 12 to 15, including women and kids.

  386. What was the difference of him coming this time? There's no other explanation.

  387. The former demon-possessed guy that he sent on mission.

  388. Think for a second what this means. I want you to hold it for a second.

  389. He probably went, as we see in scripture, and shared about Jesus to everyone

  390. like Jesus told him to, and he went above and beyond.

  391. He probably shared with the very people. I don't know if you ever thought about

  392. this and what Jesus was telling him to do. He probably shared with the very

  393. people who cuffed him in chains and left him to die.

  394. The message was just too good. His past relationships didn't seem to matter anymore.

  395. I don't know how it all went down, but don't you just picture as Jesus is preaching

  396. to these thousands of people that he notices that man and he makes possibly eye contact with him.

  397. Maybe after all the crowds left to go home

  398. the man sticks around and Jesus just wraps

  399. him up in a big old bear hug can you see that scene and just says well done

  400. again I want y'all to know this you have no idea the impact that God wants to

  401. make through you just just look at the craziest most insecure guy that God used here,

  402. that Jesus used to start a revival in Decapolis here.

  403. Have you ever said these things like, I can't do this.

  404. Have you ever said that out loud or thought, I can't do it. I'm shy.

  405. I can't talk to people about God. This is just not my thing.

  406. Let me ask you something.

  407. Are you known for running around the local cemetery and your neighborhood naked?

  408. I hope not i don't see the hands go up thank you lord has anybody ever chained

  409. you up because you're so out of control.

  410. If not, did somebody have a kid that did that? No, I'm kidding.

  411. If not, then you have far less to overcome than this guy did.

  412. And he brought about, through the power of the Spirit, one of the Bible's best spiritual awakenings.

  413. And as we see on this closing slide, stop saying I can't and say God can.

  414. Do you believe that? God can do it. God can use you. He used this demon-possessed guy.

  415. That no one ever thought would ever be used to bring about a revival.

  416. He used him. He got messy with this guy, and he delivered him.

  417. God can use you. He can certainly use you. And before I pray,

  418. I'm going to lead us in prayer.

  419. At some point, the former demon-possessed guy probably started to lose his passion.

  420. Why do I say that, Brother Ronnie?

  421. Because that's probably what happens to most everybody else, right?

  422. The truth is mission and passion leaks sometimes.

  423. He needed to be reminded of what his life was about now.

  424. I'm not sure what he did to keep focus. And here's a prayer I want to share

  425. with y'all today as I close in this prayer that I wrote a while back.

  426. And I want to close with it today. I did it so that I'd be reminded every day

  427. at the end of my prayer time that I made for mission. I made for God's mission

  428. for this calling of fulfilling the Great Commission.

  429. And I have a very important message to share with other people.

  430. And by the way, you do too.

  431. Let me just say this before I pray. Y'all, we had a good time last Sunday night,

  432. didn't we? We did, didn't we?

  433. Got to see a lot of people, got to serve a lot of people, got to meet some people.

  434. But I want you to know, don't forget this today. God can use you and your message

  435. is what God has done for you to go and tell others about how God saved you,

  436. how he changed your life. Let's pray.

  437. Lord, today my identity is secure. Lord, I'm a child of the living God who has

  438. already given me a verdict of well done, my good and faithful servant.

  439. Before I even step out of the door.

  440. Lord, I'm not living today for the opinion of others or even the opinion of myself.

  441. I've got nothing to prove and nothing to lose, and I've been set free to live an undefeated life.

  442. Lord, I choose today to live a life of integrity without compromise.

  443. Lord, I'll ferociously guard what enters into my brain and what exits from my mouth.

  444. So you're glorified by every aspect of my life.

  445. Today, my focus is clear. It's you, Jesus.

  446. All the ministry you want to do through me will come out of your intimacy with me, Lord.

  447. So I'm up early because I just want to be with you before I do anything for you.

  448. Lord, prayer is not what I do before work, but prayer is the work.

  449. Lord, I wholeheartedly believe that you can do more in a moment,

  450. Lord, than I can do in a lifetime.

  451. So I'm going to pray some big expectant elephant prayers, Lord,

  452. that could only be realized through you.

  453. I don't walk into rooms proclaiming, here I am, but I'll humbly live the life of there you are.

  454. Less me, more Jesus.

  455. I've been put here to empower the next generation to impact the world,

  456. to set people free to be who you made them to be, Lord.

  457. Today, my mission is massive.

  458. There's only one number that matters.

  459. Lowering lostness in Baybonet, Spanish fort in the world.

  460. Bringing your kingdom here, Lord, is indefinitely too big for me,

  461. or even our church here at Eastwood.

  462. So I'm going to partner with other ministries. Every opportunity I get,

  463. I want to raise up planners to send out to the harvest fields.

  464. I want to raise up an army, not building an audience.

  465. I want to, I won't compare or be critical. Lord, I'll see the best in others

  466. and creatively bless them.

  467. Lord, today there's a race to

  468. the heart of every child. And the first one there, Lord, is going to win.

  469. I'm here to help reach Babanette, one child and family at a time.

  470. And unapologetically, my family comes first.

  471. I won't cheat on Sharon, Jasmine, or Dakota with the ministry because they are

  472. ministry priority number one.

  473. If I get everything I could ever dream of as a pastor, but my kids don't love

  474. Jesus or my wife feels neglected, I'll have nothing.

  475. So my best goes to them with my energy, time, and attention.

  476. Today, Lord, is a day closer to your vision becoming reality.

  477. Today's an incredible opportunity to be bold and share the gospel with those

  478. who haven't heard the good news yet.

  479. It's a great day to raise up leaders, to be sent out.

  480. It's a perfect day to inspire people, Lord, with a kingdom vision of joining

  481. in your activity where you're at work.

  482. Lord, it's the day to notice the unnoticed and be distracted by divine interruptions.

  483. Today, Lord, would you break my heart for what breaks yours and have my heart

  484. beat fast for the things that you are most passionate about.

  485. Jesus, I can't give you much today, but I'll give you today.

  486. It's not my day, it's yours.

  487. Use me however you want. I'm yours. In Jesus' mighty name I pray. Amen.