Fearless week 2 - Jay Ingram

Well y'all, it's awesome being here this morning.

How are y'all doing?

All right, all right.

Well, um I need to pay liberty after that introduction right there, and maybe hire her the next time I have to write any kind of bio.

But um You know, sometimes things happen, and at the time we're freaking out, we're running around, and then once we get into the moment, it's like, God, did you plan all this?

Like when Jonathan was singing all these songs, it's like, man, we didn't even coordinate this, and it's like the exact song list for this sermon.

It's awesome.

And how many of you raise your hands this morning if everything in the last 24 hours of your life went perfectly?

Anybody?

Can anybody raise their hand?

All right, thought so.

Glad I'm in that company, right?

This morning, woke up with a migraine, took meds, got a shower, was going to practice the sermon again, and then the freezer door was open overnight.

So had to clean all that out.

Thank you, kids that wanted strawberry ice cream.

It's done, right?

But when Forrest uh called me yesterday and asked me to preach, I told him what I was already planning for our church.

We meet on Sunday nights.

He's like, perfect.

Praise the Lord.

Everything works for the good.

And, you know, when I first went overseas as a missionary, I had a supervisor that told me this.

He said, We don't need you to be flexible.

I was like, man, what a hard case right here.

He's like, we need you to be fluid.

Flexible is too rigid.

So here we go, guys.

We're being fluid.

Well, today we're going to talk about two great stories that are true about Jesus.

And it comes from Luke chapter 8.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

So at our church, Commission Church, we took a break over the summer, but we've been going through the book of Luke, and so this is what I'm going to be preaching on tonight.

And while you're going there getting ready, in Luke, the author, whose name is Luke, his goal is that whoever would read the gospel according to Luke would have certainty about what they had been taught about Jesus.

So the entire reason that this is written is A, so that people can read about Jesus, what he did in the first place, but B, if they've already heard about Jesus, if they've already believed in him, then they can have certainty about what they've been taught.

Now, Forrest told me last week y'all talked about Jesus walking on the water.

And today we're going to start in Luke chapter 8, verse 22, and it has another story about Jesus and water and a boat.

Luke 8:22

Go figure.

So what we're going to talk about today is really two things.

One, Jesus is Lord.

And then also a question for all of us.

Where is your faith?

Where is your faith?

Now when we talk about Jesus being Lord, we mean that he has authority or power over something.

Like a Lord back in the day, they had authority over the people that lived on their estate, on their property.

Well, Jesus has authority over all creation.

We're about to see that here.

So if you turn to Luke chapter 8, starting verse 22, I want to go ahead and read.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

We're going to read a good chunk of scripture right here.

We're going to read all the way to verse 39.

So one day he, that means Jesus, got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, Let us go across to the other side of the lake.

So they set out.

And as they sailed, he fell asleep, and a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.

But y'all, where's Jesus right now?

Asleep.

And they went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing.

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.

He said to them, Where is your faith?

And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?

Then they sailed to the country of the Garrisons, which is opposite Galilee.

When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.

For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.

When he saw Jesus he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I beg you, do not torment me.

For he had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of the man.

For many a time it had seized him.

He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.

Jesus then asked him, What is your name?

And he said Legion, for many demons had entered him, and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these.

So he gave them permission.

Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to see and found and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

The man was previously driven out in isolation in the desert among the tombs.

Now where is he?

Sitting at the feet of Jesus.

He was clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

And those who had seen it told them how the demon possessed man had been healed.

Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Garrisons asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.

So he got into the boat and returned.

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him.

But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.

And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Let's pray one more time, y'all.

Lord God, we do want to recognize that these events are true.

And we want to recognize, God, that you have had Luke write them down for our benefit.

And we pray, God, that you'll open our hearts and minds, Lord, to understand this and to rely on you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, y'all, what do you have faith in?

Some people would say, well, I've got faith in myself.

You know, I'm smart, I work hard, I'm healthy, I'm active, fill in the blank.

I'm doing pretty well.

But are you calm?

Are you at peace?

Is your faith in something whose power is greater than your own?

Now, right here, these two stories are recorded for us to know who Jesus is and where we should put our faith.

And when we think about that question, where is your faith?

Let me take just a minute to say what the Bible says about faith.

Do you know the Bible actually gives us a definition of faith?

And it comes from Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1.

Hebrews 11:1

It says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Things hoped for greater than ourselves that are not seen at this moment.

And the Bible also in that same chapter gives us an example of faith.

For example, it says, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.

So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Because God was before everything that is visible now.

As a matter of fact, faith is more than us just saying, I hope so.

Any of y'all ever use that when somebody says, Oh man, you're gonna do great on that exam.

I hope so.

Man, this marriage you're entering into is gonna be awesome.

I hope so.

Man, this spaghetti is gonna be awesome tonight.

I'm starving.

I hope so.

No matter what it is, we use that.

I hope so.

Y'all, faith is more than just I hope so.

Because faith in God is a power greater than any that we have ourselves.

Now, these two stories that we're gonna read or that we just read today, they talk about faith and fear.

And what I want us to do is to really look at verse 25 and ask ourselves this question.

Where is your faith?

Where is your faith?

Now, I'm gonna talk about Jesus being Lord in three ways today.

All right.

This is a little traditional preacher talk right here.

There's gonna be three ways I'm gonna talk about Jesus being Lord.

So Jesus is Lord, he's got authority, he's got a power greater than us in three different ways.

And the first one is he's got more power and authority than me and you, so we can trust him when we're in crisis.

Now, y'all taught last week about Jesus walking on water, right?

And how Peter was invited to join Jesus.

It's not safe to walk on water when you're in a deep lake.

But right here, there's a storm.

Jesus sent them in this boat on the lake.

Did y'all catch that?

He said, we need to go to the other side.

Jesus initiated this.

And where is he when this wind comes?

He's asleep.

He's asleep.

The disciples, though, they're freaking out, right?

As many of us would.

Have y'all ever been on a boat in the middle of a storm?

Anybody?

Were you scared?

There you go.

Alright.

Even if you got a life jacket, that's some scary stuff.

Even my dad one time, this wasn't even a storm, but my dad loves to fish.

Uh so he and my pawpaws, what I call my granddad, his dad.

Everybody packed up, and we went to the fishing spot, and my dad's in the front of the boat, my pawpaws in the back, and uh he was a rough old sailor, and he was like, Jerry Woman, why is there all this water in the back of this boat?

And dad was like, What are you talking about?

And we turned around and look, and sure enough, the whole back, almost half the motor, is in the water.

And then dad realized, oh, I forgot to put the plug back in the boat.

All of us are freaking out.

We had driven for like 10 minutes on the water.

By the time we got the boat back on the trailer, it was half sunk.

Okay?

That was in calm waters, and I know how much we were freaking out.

This, though, is a strong wind to the point where there's white cat waves coming into the boat.

Even with strong winds, y'all.

Even with water rushing and dumping on them, where is Jesus?

He's asleep.

Now, anyone in that situation, I think safe to say, would be scared.

But the disciples, they know that there's only one place for them to go, and that's to wake up Jesus.

So the disciples, they're freaking out.

We're gonna die.

But they go and wake up Jesus.

He's sleeping.

I'm gonna say that repeatedly, y'all.

Jesus is sleeping.

And they're gonna die.

Verse 24 says that they called him Master, Master, we're gonna die.

But y'all, listen.

They've been following Jesus for a while now.

It's not like they just met the dude.

He's the one that told them to cross this lake.

And they're saying that they're gonna die.

Beloved, listen to this.

They are not thinking about the power of Jesus in that moment.

They are not thinking about the power of Jesus in that moment.

How does Jesus react?

We're all gonna die! No, totally not.

He stands up and he rebukes the wind is how it comes down.

Gets on to it is how we might say in the mountains, right?

He got on that wind and he told it to stop.

And what happened?

There was complete calm.

The disciples are captured in this storm.

They're paralyzed in their fear of thinking in the here and now.

But then Jesus comes and makes everything calm by his word.

Jesus, y'all, is the Lord of nature.

He's got authority over it.

He's got authority over his own creation.

If y'all ever have Siri play music, sometimes you can say, Siri, stop playing music, and it'll work most of the time.

Sometimes it'll be like, call mom.

You're like, no, I said stop music.

But Jesus has complete authority over his creation.

And at his word, it has to obey.

Jesus is the one who can bring calm in the storm.

Where is your faith?

Another way that Jesus is Lord here is that we don't just need to focus on the here and now, but we can look to the future promises that God has made to us.

Because Jesus has the power and the authority to fulfill any promise that he gives us.

For example, Jesus told them we must go to the other side of this lake.

Was Jesus going to lie to them and kill them?

No.

There was a purpose and a plan in everything that Jesus was doing.

Beloved, we've already talked about how Jesus is Lord over creation or in the natural world.

And now let's think about this for a minute.

This strong storm that causes all this panic and urgency right there in the moment.

How many of us have been frozen in our fear because we are encountering some kind of tremendous storm in our lives?

And it's not just some kind of big wind.

It might be the death of a very close loved one.

It may be somebody that's got cancer.

It may be somebody that you love like a parent or a grandparent.

It may be one of your best friends who's gone off the deep end and gone through addiction and left everything sane in their life.

In the middle of the storm, we're prone to be overwhelmed.

But are we putting our faith in Jesus?

The disciples here are so focused on the here and now that they forget what Jesus has taught them in the past.

As a matter of fact, when thinking about Jesus being asleep during this whole storm, you know, people who have the ability to sleep during a storm have peace.

People who have the ability to sleep in a storm have peace.

Ecclesiastes, which is a book of wisdom in the Bible, in chapter 5, it talks about the sleep of people.

And it talks about the folly of us trying to get wealth and get rich and trying to live for the moment, live for money, because all it does is continue to not satisfy us.

But in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, it says this sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much.

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

Why would the work of a laborer be sweet?

Because they are focused on the power of the Lord providing for their every need in this chapter of Ecclesiastes.

They recognize that everything that they have comes from God, so they trust him to provide for him.

Y'all, the disciples' reaction to the calming of the storm was also fear.

It was amazement.

And they asked, Who is this guy that just calmed this storm that we thought was going to kill us five minutes ago?

So now they're on the other end of the storm.

And now they see that Jesus is Lord over all this creation.

They see that Jesus provides them with hope because they're not going to die.

He calms this storm.

And now what?

They're afraid again.

They're afraid again.

But this kind of fear is different.

It's an amazed fear because they see the power of Jesus to intervene in their life and save them.

Beloved, where is your faith?

Did you know that Jesus will intervene in your life and save you?

Have you been amazed by the power of Jesus in your life?

Where is your faith?

Now, the second story that we're going to look at, y'all, is equally important because it teaches us something else about Jesus.

And remember, Luke's whole reason about writing this gospel is so that we can learn who Jesus is and we can have certainty about who he is.

So, same trip, we think.

They get to the other side of the lake.

And it's written to make us think that as soon as Jesus gets on the land, like here's the seashore, he jumps out of the boat, he gets up on the land, he's confronted with this guy who's possessed by demons.

Pretty crazy road trip so far, right?

Big windstorm.

Now there's this dude possessed with demons.

Jesus, y'all, is the Lord over all evil.

He has authority or power over it.

He doesn't promote it, he doesn't condone it, but he has authority and power over it.

He is the Lord over demons.

This man, he lived among the tombs.

When y'all think of tombs, what do you think of?

Death okay.

Anybody alive here live in a tomb?

Alright.

No, nobody.

Nobody lives in a tomb.

My college apartment was kind of like one.

Um tombs, we think death.

These demons had basically killed this man in every way except literal, driving him out away from everyone else in isolation.

They've identified this man with death.

And here's what I think is the craziest part of the story.

This happens right after the disciples ask each other, who is this guy that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Y'all remember what the demon-possessed guy says?

In verse 28, the demon actually gives us the answer in verse 28.

What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

I beg you, do not torment me.

The disciples are like, who is this dude?

They get to the other side of the lake, he jumps out on the land, and then the actual demon speaking through the dude, not the dude himself, says, What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

If you're a disciple, you're freaking out in a good way right now.

This demon has actually answered the question that you asked.

Jesus is a man that falls asleep in the boat, but he's also the son of the most high God.

The God who created everything by speaking it.

Remember that Bible definition of faith from Hebrews?

It said in the example, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Where is your faith?

But then Jesus, thinking about this demon right here.

This demon is begging Jesus not to torment him, even though the demon's been tormenting this guy for who knows how long.

As a matter of fact, it gets even deeper than this.

The demon's power, let the man break chains.

Okay, I'm gonna pick on Hayden real quick.

Hayden, if somebody gives you shackles and chains, can you break them?

Nope.

Alright, so there you go.

He's the strong one in the family.

We're built alike, you can tell.

No.

Shackles, chains, they're made out of iron.

They're meant to be so strong that you cannot break them.

But they couldn't hold back this guy.

That's power beyond that one possessed dude.

That's something that you can't see that's causing that to happen.

It also said that the demon would throw him down on the ground, rip off his clothes, and drive him out into the desert, away from everyone, and living among the tombs.

Y'all, this is scary.

If you were one of those people that lived around there and saw this dude do that, you would be scared.

But I want to make this clear.

This is a true story.

This is not a guy who's suffering from a severe mental illness.

When I lived in China, you would see certain people out on the streets, they don't have a good health care system, and you would see people eating out of the trash, and you knew that they were mentally challenged.

It was totally sad.

But this is not what it's talking about.

This man literally had demons possessing him.

That's important.

Jesus does something that's fascinating here.

He asked the dude, which it's really the demon talking to him, what's your name?

And the demon says, Legion.

I'm a history nerd.

Does anybody know what legion means?

For the Roman army.

What's a legion?

So 6,000 soldiers at this time would be one legion.

Okay, so maybe there's 6,000 demons.

Either way, it's a ton of demons in this dude.

Alright?

Not just one or two.

A whole bunch.

But with 6,000 demons, man, there's no way Jesus could help this guy.

There's no way.

They're too powerful, they're too strong.

Or is there a way?

Jesus does something next.

He commands them to come out, and they beg him to let them go into these pigs.

They beg him.

Six thousand demons, give or take, beg Jesus not to command them to be tormented.

Did y'all hear that?

Six thousand.

Okay, you take the strongest warrior in history.

Six thousand scrawny dudes like me could take him.

That gives me hope.

Alright?

But right here, 6,000 demons are begging Jesus at his feet.

Beloved Jesus is the Lord over demons.

He's the Lord over demons.

Who is Jesus?

Luke's about to show us that he's even more powerful than many demons.

We know that because they beg so that they won't be tormented.

Y'all hear that?

The demons know that whatever Jesus says, they've got to do it.

Whatever Jesus says, they've got to do it.

They don't have more power than him because he is Lord over them.

Now, there's this whole part about the pigs, and there's all kinds of debate over what this part is.

Y'all, the point is that Jesus cast all these demons out of this man.

The pigs are just confirmation of it.

And this is a beautiful picture when we look at verses 35 through 37.

Because the man, when they came to Jesus, they found that man from whom the demons had gone sitting at Jesus' feet.

Sitting, not being driven out.

He's sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Jesus calmed the storm, and he's calmed this man's life.

Have you ever wondered if Jesus is powerful enough to calm your life?

He's powerful enough to calm this man's life with a legion of demons.

Where's your faith?

Where's your faith?

Now, last but not least, Jesus is Lord.

He's got authority, he's got power.

He has rightful authority over us.

But are you too afraid to follow him?

See, y'all, we've got two kinds of fear here.

We've got that initial fear of the waves, we've got that initial fear of the demon-possessed man.

But notice on the back end of it, after Jesus calms the storm, there's fear.

After Jesus calms this man's life, there's fear.

And we should fear Jesus because he is powerful, right?

There's a strong wind.

Jesus arrived in the town where he's greeted by this man that lived among the tombs.

Both times, people are freaked out by the calm his power brings.

But beloved, Jesus is Lord over you.

He's Lord over you.

He has power and authority more and more times more than you.

We can't even begin to measure the power that Jesus has.

So where is your faith?

So why now?

What now?

Like, this is awesome to kind of know, like, conceptually, yeah, like Jesus calmed these things.

He's got power.

But like, how does that apply to me right now, 2,000 years later?

Jesus has done amazing things for some of you.

Some of you were slaves to addiction, and he has freed you.

He has calmed your life.

Some of you grew up in abusive situations, and Jesus has calmed your spirit from anxiety and nightmares about your past.

Some of you are like, man, I was so bad, they ought to make horror movies about me.

But he has taken your sin and forgiven it if you've trusted in him.

He has calmed your life.

Some of you, he might have saved from slavery to legalism.

Maybe you grew up in a religious background where it was all about the rules, and if you broke one rule, you're out.

Jesus has calmed your life from worry.

Fill in the blank.

Verse 39, though, when we look at that, at the man's reaction, it says that Jesus told this man, this guy who had previously been possessed by demons, to return to his home and declare how much God had done for him.

Beloved, have y'all proclaimed to other people how much Jesus has done for y'all?

Have y'all proclaimed how much Jesus has done for you?

And there are people here today, there's a storm in your life right now.

It's real.

You're in it.

You woke up thinking about it, you'll probably go to sleep thinking about it.

Maybe you're not possessed by a bunch of demons, but sometimes it feels like it.

You've tried to calm the storm by controlling everything in your life, but it hasn't worked out because you've not submitted to Lord Jesus' authority in your life.

You know what Jesus has done for you?

You know what Jesus has done for you?

Here's the deal.

Because from the very beginning, if you read at the very beginning of the Bible, God creates everything, all the universe by his spoken power, right?

And then he's got authority.

And he puts people in a place where they can flourish under his power and authority.

And that's a good thing.

But what do all of us want to do, even today?

We want to live under our own authority and under our own rules.

And what that causes us to do is to sin.

To lie, steal, cheat, murder, envy, all the stuff.

It comes from a heart that wants to be our own power, our own authority.

But as we've just seen, we have no power or authority compared to Jesus.

So, y'all, God, being rich in mercy, gave us Jesus not just as a model for ethics or a good teacher, but he gave us Jesus as a substitute to take our punishment so that we can have a relationship with God under his power and authority and have calm in our lives.

It is not abusive, it is not overwhelming, it is not oppressive.

God says that he loves us.

Jesus says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

It's not oppressive.

It's not oppressive.

He will calm your life and give you hope of a future if you will put your faith in him and not in yourself.

Like that demon-possessed man, Jesus made him clean and at peace.

He will do the same for you if you put your faith in him.

So where is your faith?

I'm going to invite Jonathan to come back up.

And I want all of us to ask ourselves this question.

Because even if we're a follower of Jesus like those disciples, and the storm is in our life right now, maybe we've taken our eyes off the hope and the power of Jesus.

If you've not put your faith in Jesus before, he will calm the storms of your life and give you hope and a future.

So where is your faith?

You have an opportunity for assurance in your life now.

So I'm going to pray.

And if any of you would like to talk about what faith in Jesus looks like, I'm here today.

Jonathan's always here.

Emily's always here.

Talk to one of us.

Do not let the possibility of calm and hope in your life get wasted.

Let's pray.

Lord God, we do want to thank you that you have all authority, that you have all power.

And that's a good thing for us.

Because you keep your promises and your word, the Bible tells us that if we have faith in you, that you will keep us, that you will forgive us, that you have a plan for us, that you have a place.

Jesus says in John 14 that He's preparing a place for us right now.

That's a promise that He has power to keep.

So we pray, Lord, that we will trust in your promises, that we will not fear the circumstance, but we will fear you out of respect and amazement at your power.

Help us, Lord.

In Jesus' name, amen.