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Come, follow me // #12 - Jesus heals a demon-possessed man (Mark 5:1-20)

Avenue Community Church

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  1. Again, that's going to be Mark chapter 5.

    Mark 5 chapter mention

  2. There's verses 1 to 20. They went across the lake to the

  3. region of the gerasenes when Jesus got out of the boats.

  4. And man, with an impure Spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

  5. This man lived in the tombs. And no one could bind him

  6. anymore. Not even with a chain for.

  7. He had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains

  8. apart and broke the islands on his feet.

  9. No one was strong enough to subdue him day and night among

  10. the tombs. And in the Hills he would cry

  11. out and cut himself with stones. Yeah.

  12. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his

  13. knees. In front of him.

  14. He shouted at the top of his voice.

  15. What do you want with me? Jesus.

  16. Son of the most high God and God's name.

  17. Don't torture me for Jesus had said to him.

  18. Come out of this man. You impure Spirit then Jesus

  19. asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion.

  20. He replied for. We are many And he begged Jesus

  21. again and again not to send them out of the area.

  22. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby Hillside, the

  23. demons begged to Jesus send us among the Pink's allow us to go

  24. into them. He gave them permission and the

  25. input, your spirits came out and went into the pigs.

  26. The heard about two thousand in number rushed down the Steep

  27. Bank into the lake and drowned, Those tending, the pigs ran off

  28. and reported this in the town and Countryside and the people

  29. went out to see what had happened.

  30. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been

  31. possessed by the Legion of demons sitting there dressed,

  32. and in his right mind and they were afraid, this would seen it,

  33. told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed

  34. man and told about the pigs as well.

  35. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region

  36. as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been

  37. demon-possessed begs to go with him.

  38. Jesus did not let him but said, go home to your own people and

  39. tell them how much the Lord has done for you and now, he has had

  40. mercy on you. So the man went away and began

  41. to tell in the in the decapolis how much Jesus had done for him

  42. and all the people were amazed. And because we're back in March

  43. after the Christmas break, we've had a few weeks away from this

  44. gospel. And I'm just to remind us of

  45. what we've been doing. Is we've walked through Mark's

  46. gospel together. They're busy or two simple

  47. questions that it Mark. Invites us to keep asking as we

  48. make our way through his gospel and these questions, very

  49. similar, these who is Jesus, and what does it mean to follow him

  50. in this world? So every passes we look out we

  51. think of all Who is Jesus? What does this passage?

  52. Tell us about him who he is and what he's come to do.

  53. But then also what does it mean to follow him in this world

  54. again Jesus, the right, this gospel is calling people to

  55. follow him. So what is the life?

  56. Jesus calls his disciples, his followers to live with him in

  57. this world. What is the sense of purpose?

  58. Jesus gives to anyone who trusts in him and whether you're

  59. reading mark on your own really was someone else doing it

  60. together. As we are on a Sunday morning,

  61. those two simple questions are just great ones to keep

  62. returning to in Mark. Who is Jesus?

  63. What does it mean to follow him and this world?

  64. So busy as we turn to Mark chapter 5, then let's ask these

    Mark 5 chapter mention

  65. two questions of this passage who is Jesus according to Mark,

    Mark 5 chapter mention

  66. chapter 5. Well, the corner of this, this

  67. passage has had read to us. He is God's son.

  68. Come to defeat evil and set people free.

  69. He's godson come to defeat evil and set People free.

  70. And what does it mean to follow Jesus in this world?

  71. Well, the man set free by Jesus shows us.

  72. At the end of this passage. It means that we bring Jesus

  73. light into this Dark World by telling people what he has done

  74. for us. So to follow Jesus in this world

  75. is to be Witnesses for him. That's what Jesus tells the man

  76. to do, at the end of this story, I'm convinced has a great

  77. passage for us to look at at the beginning of a new year and a

  78. new term because it tells us some things we always need to

  79. remember, first thing it tells us is this Jesus is stronger

  80. than any force of evil in this world.

  81. He is stronger than any force of evil.

  82. In this world. Why do we need to hear that?

  83. What we live in a world that is broken a world as all to fill of

  84. the evidence of evil and suffering and darkness.

  85. Well, that's the big world out there.

  86. The world of war in Ukrainian or divided, political leaders or

  87. Injustice racism poverty, Whether that's in the small

  88. world in here, maybe in our own lives or our families worrying,

  89. about the future experiencing loneliness, ill-health

  90. bereavement difficult, family relationships worrying about our

  91. jobs whether we can keep going. It's actually I don't have to

  92. prove to anyone here today that there is evil in the world.

  93. We all know that what God's word does have to prove to us is that

  94. Jesus is strong enough to help us cope with that evil to

  95. respond. And to you that Jesus can

  96. overcome it and we can bring our hopes and our fears to him at

  97. the beginning of a new year and ask him to be with us in the

  98. mall. So who is Jesus?

  99. He is stronger than any force of evil in this world.

  100. But more than that, he actually gives us a great purpose in our

  101. lives. He calls each one of us to be

  102. missionaries for him in this world.

  103. So play our parts and bringing light into a dark world.

  104. We do that through our lives lived for him and we do that

  105. through our words spoken about him.

  106. Just as Jesus tells this man at the end of this passage and

  107. verse 19, go home to your own people and tell them how much

  108. the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

  109. He says he calls us not to be a missionary for him.

  110. And we may feel weak. We may feel badly qualified for

  111. that. We may feel anxious about that

  112. but Jesus is committed to working through our lives, on

  113. our witness to make disciples for him in this world.

  114. And so we can ask Jesus, the beginning of a new year to help

  115. us in that with real confidence, that Jesus Delights to help us

  116. in that. So if you like this passage

  117. reminds us of the power of Jesus in this world but also the

  118. purpose. He gives his people when he sets

  119. them free. So let's look at this passage

  120. together and I'm Mark chapter 5 fully of Mark chapter 5 follows

    Mark 5 chapter mention Mark 5 chapter mention

  121. on from Mark chapter 4 we haven't been in mark for a few

    Mark 4 chapter mention

  122. weeks or just to remind you the end of Mark, chapter 4, Jesus

    Mark 4 chapter mention

  123. calms. A violent storm on the Sea of

  124. Galilee simply by speaking to the wind and the waves quiet be

  125. still and not Miracle Jesus. Demonstrates his authority over

  126. creation and created things, but neither the beginning of chapter

  127. 5, Jesus damages his authority over the Forces of evil by

  128. setting free a man possessed by a legion of demons.

  129. If you like at the end of chapter 4, the storm Jesus

  130. dealing with is a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

  131. But the beginning of chapter 5, the storm he's dealing with is a

  132. storm inside this man causing him torment on suffering.

  133. And in both passages, we see Jesus par over chaos and

  134. destruction. So let me just read verse 14

  135. says, again, Mark says, they went across the lake to the

  136. region of the gerasenes. Now, a quick look at the little

  137. note to the bottom, your Bible and actually, we're not entirely

  138. sure where Jesus goes. This one is very rare moment for

  139. the ancient manuscripts. We have of Mark's gospel in

  140. Greek, they kind of don't all agree because annoyingly.

  141. There were three places around about the Sea of Galilee that

  142. sounded remarkably similar. And it's eyes like scribes kind

  143. of sometimes root down once and I wrote another So Jesus could

  144. have traveled to the gerasenes as we have in the NIV or the

  145. Gatherings or the garriga scenes and it's just a bit frustrating.

  146. They all sound very similar. So all three places are similar

  147. names and we don't quite know which of them precisely Jesus

  148. and his disciples land. That what we do know is that

  149. this is a gentile territory he's arriving.

  150. In this is Jesus first steps into non-jewish territory in

  151. Mark's gospel. Because up to now Jesus Focus

  152. has been the people of ancient Israel.

  153. His fellow Jews. But now Jesus has traveled

  154. outside of a Jewish region. And how do we know that what we

  155. know that because there is a herd of 2000 pigs, just a little

  156. away from where he meets this man.

  157. And pigs for Jewish people are unclean.

  158. They're declared unclean by the Hebrew scriptures and no

  159. self-respecting Jewish time would allow pigs to be tended

  160. nearby. So Jesus he's moved into Gentile

  161. territory here and these pigs are going to have an important

  162. part to play in what happens with Jesus and this demon

  163. possessed man. So, Jesus arrives in this area

  164. verse 1. A man with an imp, your spirit

  165. came from the tombs to meet him. Now I mentioned to my son this

  166. morning. What he was saying, what's

  167. happening Mark? I said, oh today.

  168. Jesus drives out someone possessed by demons.

  169. He said doesn't Jesus always do that in Mark's gospel.

  170. So we've kind of been here before, he's done this before.

  171. But in this moment Mark really slows down to give us a huge

  172. amount of detail about this man's life and the picture Mark

  173. pints for us is one of intense suffering.

  174. Here we have a suffering, man. Cut off from God.

  175. Look at verses 3 to 5 again. Verse 3, this man is living

  176. among the tombs. He's living among dead bodies.

  177. This man would have been seen as unclean both by Jewish and

  178. gentile people. He is cut off from the people in

  179. his community because of this impure spirit and he's also cut

  180. off from God. He is unclean.

  181. Verse four, he would have terrified the people around him.

  182. Because of this impure Spirit, romantic him, the people in that

  183. region, feared him clearly. But they've also long since

  184. given up on him. We learned that in the past,

  185. they tried to help him to chain him up to protect him from the

  186. impure Spirit, but I hadn't worked.

  187. So now they just keep their distance from him and go on with

  188. our own lives. And then you look at verse 5,

  189. she's a heartbreaking description night and day among

  190. the tombs and in the Hills, he would cry out and cut himself

  191. with stones. Smart leaves is a new diet.

  192. This is a terrible and lonely. Existence for this man first for

  193. no one is strong enough to subdue him.

  194. He's described as more dead than alive and he's clearly in pain

  195. and misery when Jesus meets him. Let's pause for a moment and

  196. just notice a few things. First I want to know is, is this

  197. the Bible always takes experiences of suffering and

  198. evil? Seriously?

  199. This isn't just a cheap Miracle to show us how powerful Jesus

  200. is. No, Mark, doesn't rush over this

  201. man's p.m. there is real care and compassion in the way he

  202. writes about this, man. The demons that's not.

  203. He must have made a huge impact on the disciples when they met

  204. him. So Peter, who's the man?

  205. I witnessed Mark relies on wood remembered vividly.

  206. This man's experience of Life. The Bible always takes

  207. experience of suffering and evil, seriously, because Jesus

  208. always does jesus takes suffering and evil seriously,

  209. and that is good news for us. Because we live in a fallen

  210. world and each one of us will experience or have experienced

  211. suffering and evil at some point in our lives.

  212. We need to know that God doesn't just dismiss it or Overlook it.

  213. Remember, talking to an older friend of mine, several years

  214. ago, he was sharing high, he had become a Christian.

  215. I hate start trusting in Jesus. This guy he'd been at a

  216. university in the 1960s and he just got on to the point of

  217. Despair about the suffering. He saw in the world and the

  218. suffering. He was experiencing in his own

  219. life. I want to use looking for

  220. answers, it seemed to him that the people around him, all they

  221. could do in the face of suffering was was either ignore

  222. it or distract themselves from it.

  223. That was all they just couldn't face up to because it was just

  224. too much. He just wasn't satisfied with

  225. that. And then my friend started

  226. reading the Bible with a Christian Student he knew and

  227. what he find there was a God, he doesn't ignore or run away from

  228. suffering and Evil. He met a god, he took suffering

  229. and evil. Seriously who looks them Square

  230. in the face and of the Bible story carries on, we come to

  231. Jesus, we meet a God in the Bible who experiences suffering

  232. and evil himself, who takes them on and defeats them.

  233. So that one day they will not impact our lives or our world

  234. again. I want to say when marks lose

  235. dying to tell us about this man, it's because he's honoring this

  236. man suffering. That's what led my friend to put

  237. his faith in Jesus. That's what Mark is doing in

  238. these verses here. But the other thing I want to

  239. lose for we move on is is when we don't always think about in

  240. our culture that in the Bible evil is always personal.

  241. So the cause of this man's suffering isn't just impersonal

  242. factors like a disease or a physical condition or poverty.

  243. No, Mark tells us here. The man.

  244. Suffering is a result of an imp your spirit.

  245. It's an agent of God's Great enemy the devil.

  246. And of course, in our culture we don't know what to do with bits

  247. like this. We're saying, well, maybe this

  248. actually is some sort of illness this guy had and just people

  249. back then called it demons. We just don't seem to have

  250. categories with this either. We sort of dismiss that language

  251. we laugh at it or we just talked about our Halloween and in

  252. horror movies But as my son wisely, pointed out, to me this

  253. morning. Jesus is always dealing with

  254. demons and Mars gospel. There is real spiritual warfare

  255. going on in this gulf between the forces of light, led by

  256. Jesus and the forces of Darkness, led by the devil, an

  257. impure Spirits like this one. And this is biblical language.

  258. We don't always know what to do with but but it's there and we

  259. need to take it seriously. the Apostle Paul a bit later and

  260. then you test and puts it, very clear that he says, our struggle

  261. is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against

  262. the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and

  263. against the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly realms,

  264. Will Pete. What Paul's saying?

  265. There is a, we kind of think our struggles.

  266. Just people just people are difficult or people are hard

  267. work or people are opposing us pieces.

  268. New actually, there's more going on than, you know, There's more

  269. going on in this world, in our lives and the lives of people

  270. around us, than we know, we have a terrible enemy in the person

  271. of the devil, and we cannot afford to forget that.

  272. Just think for a minute of the prayer that Jesus taught his

  273. disciples, somebody's known as The Lord's Prayer.

  274. There's a prayer that Jesus, did you like the Bare Bones of

  275. prayer prayers? You will always need to pray and

  276. that prayer in Matthew 6 ends with this request and lead us,

  277. not into temptation, but Deliver Us from the evil one.

  278. Not just evil in personally, the evil one personally.

  279. A great film of the 1990s. Was the usual suspect anyone

  280. seen it? After you have all people.

  281. But there's a, there's a line in it that always stuck with me.

  282. Start with a lot of people, the greatest trick, the devil ever

  283. pulled was convincing the world. He doesn't exist.

  284. We kind of think. Oh yeah, we know better now.

  285. Actually Paul says, no remember your struggle is not against

  286. flesh and blood. Remember, there is an evil one,

  287. so pray for yourselves, pray for the people around.

  288. You pray for this world. Actually The garden is Mercy.

  289. Would Deliver Us from the evil one.

  290. It will not always look as dramatic or Vivid as it does for

  291. this man in Mark 5. So much of the suffering and

  292. evil we see around us. That is evidence of the evil one

  293. at work. And Jesus has come to defeat

  294. him. And to overcome him.

  295. So it's kind of a scary intro, the man Jesus meets here.

  296. He is suffering terribly. He's cut off from God.

  297. He's cut off from people, he's tormented day and night and

  298. verse 4 just stets, it's already clearly.

  299. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

  300. No one can help this man. His situation is hopeless.

  301. Until he meets Jesus until Jesus lands on Shore.

  302. Right? By these tombs and everything

  303. changes for this man. Verse 6 when he saw Jesus from a

  304. distance, he ran. And what it, how you expect that

  305. sense, then maybe the man, he ran and attacked Jesus or he ran

  306. and mocked Jesus. Again, that's what would happen

  307. in a horror movie. But no verse 5 Verse 6, sorry.

  308. He ran and fell on his knees in front of Jesus.

  309. If you maybe no one else is strong enough as of do this man.

  310. But verses 6 to 13 the Demons Inside them are in.

  311. No doubt who has the real power over them.

  312. We see something amazing here. Jesus he is stronger than any

  313. force of evil and again we've already said that as a truth, we

  314. need to hold onto in this world. Because again we're expecting

  315. some kind of Titanic battle between equal and opposing

  316. forces of Good and Evil in these verses.

  317. Well, you're going to be disappointed.

  318. Because three times in this versus that, the demons begged,

  319. Jesus to spare them. Look at verse 7.

  320. Again, we hear this. What do you want with me?

  321. Jesus, Son of the most high God in God's name.

  322. Don't torture me. Crying out for mercy.

  323. I can think these demons have caused so much suffering and

  324. torment for this man. If causing grief Beyond grief

  325. pain and misery. Suddenly, when Jesus appears it,

  326. is the demons who are terrified of Jesus.

  327. Can read these verses. This week, I'm just reminded of

  328. kind of the bully in the school playground over the bully, who

  329. kind of just like dominates. All those weaker children, kind

  330. of like shoving them around. Taking the lunch money nor his

  331. daughter and then a stronger, kid arrives, and the and the

  332. bullies terrified and goes wrong.

  333. I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry.

  334. That's what's Happening Here. These teams have been bullying.

  335. I'm tormenting this man. But now they know their time is

  336. up and they beg for mercy. Again, you'll notice the

  337. confusion in some ways. Here we learn more about what's

  338. really going on this man and verse 9, it's not just one

  339. impure spirit so it kind of moves from plural to singular.

  340. First night, it is a legion of demons inside this man were

  341. here. Allegiant, that was the largest

  342. unit of troops in the Roman army, something up between 5,000

  343. and 6,000 soldiers. Comprised, a legion.

  344. This is an army of demons tormenting.

  345. This man. And yet they are no match for

  346. Jesus. The army of one who stands

  347. before them. I said, the pigs we back and

  348. they are because in verse m9a is new, verse 12.

  349. Sorry, in their Terror, the demons begged, Jesus to sand

  350. them among the large herd of pigs nearby.

  351. Again, why did the demons do that?

  352. Will maybe they think they're going to be safe from Jesus.

  353. There may be think if we just let this man go and just go into

  354. the pigs, Jesus will take no more notice of us and he'll just

  355. leave us as we are. But if that's what they're

  356. thinking, they are wrong verse 13.

  357. Here. Jesus gave them permission on

  358. the impure Spirits Kia, Maia and went into the pigs.

  359. The heard about two thousand in number rushed down the Steep

  360. Bank, into the lake and were drawings, It's a powerful part

  361. of this story. It is a troubling bit of the

  362. story for many people, not just people who like pigs.

  363. And they say, why would Jesus do this?

  364. Why would Jesus, do I 2000 pigs to rush down a cliff and drying

  365. in a lick? We need, to be honest, this will

  366. be a financial disaster for the people in that area.

  367. This was a point main source of income was having these pigs and

  368. yet, here, they're all drawings in the league.

  369. It just seems such a strange thing for Jesus to do.

  370. The answer to why he does it seem to be that.

  371. The first of all, he's demonstrating his authority over

  372. the demons here. But he's also ensuring they can

  373. never torment anyone else again. And this is such a public

  374. demonstration of Jesus Authority, because Jesus is

  375. declaring this man to be completely clean and free from

  376. the evil one once and for all. No one could miss.

  377. What had happened to this man? When they see all those pigs run

  378. down the cliff into the lake again, to understand that need

  379. to remember what pigs represented in Jewish.

  380. Thought something unclean, something that cut you off from

  381. God. But here at the moment when

  382. Jesus sets this man free from the demons, he also throws his

  383. enemies into the lake and all this man's uncleanness, and

  384. impurity end up at the bottom of this Lake where they can never

  385. be. Again actually this is a

  386. beautiful picture of the forgiveness and cleansing that

  387. Jesus has one for this man. He is removed to sin as far

  388. from. As it can be.

  389. We're at the bottom of this lick.

  390. And the kids were left in any doubt.

  391. What has happened to this man, we see the difference in him

  392. verse 15. When the people the region come

  393. to investigate what has happened to the pigs.

  394. They saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of

  395. demons sitting there dressed on his right mind.

  396. It's a picture of transformation of this man.

  397. It's also actually a picture of discipleship.

  398. So, not culture to sit at someone's feet.

  399. The way this man is sitting at Jesus feet had means they are a

  400. disciple of that person to hear this, man.

  401. He's finally, in his right mind, he's safe with Jesus.

  402. He's loved by Jesus, he's learning from Jesus.

  403. This is the safest place. This man can be.

  404. And I'll see it's the safest place.

  405. Any of us can be at the beginning of a new year.

  406. I mean, if I have a year Mart in a world of darkness and evil and

  407. suffering to be sitting at the feet of Jesus, like, this man is

  408. doing here. Means we are safe.

  409. We are loved and we are listening to him more than we're

  410. listening to anyone else. Yeah, we've said throughout this

  411. series, everyone is a disciple of something or someone.

  412. The only question is, who are we going to let disciple us?

  413. This man has been set free by Jesus, so we sitting at Jesus

  414. feet learning from him close to him.

  415. And that's a picture of discipleship.

  416. We needed the beginning of this year.

  417. Whatever else happens. Will I sit at the feet of Jesus,

  418. will I learn from him? Will I lean on him?

  419. So, moving on, and we need to see the impact this has on the

  420. local community verse 14 news travels quickly about the drying

  421. of the pigs. Are people come running to see

  422. what has happened. And the question really is, will

  423. hire the people going to react? So they come, they see verse 15.

  424. This man just sitting there dressed in his right mind.

  425. There is no doubt, something amazing has happened in this

  426. man's life and you say, well, how are they going to react?

  427. And we might expect in to say why this is amazing Jesus.

  428. Thank you for setting our neighbor free.

  429. Just this is amazing. Tell us more about who you are.

  430. It's me. Hi, did you do this?

  431. Jesus, no one could help him. And yet here he is.

  432. He's helped. He set free Jesus.

  433. We want to know more about you. Of course, the answer is none of

  434. those things is how they respond.

  435. Verse 15 were told there were freed and verse 17, the began to

  436. plead with Jesus to leave their region.

  437. Here we have a frightened cried that rejects Jesus.

  438. Why do they react the way they do?

  439. Maybe they're really angry and upset about what happened to the

  440. pigs. Maybe underneath that they're

  441. more concerned with their livelihood.

  442. Then they are with his suffering, man.

  443. Who they were quietly, ignoring in the tombs on the edge of the

  444. time. Maybe they're more concerned

  445. with having a good income from these pigs then they are that an

  446. army of evil spirits are tremendous thing.

  447. This guy who probably they all knew.

  448. Fundamentally, they didn't really care whether this guy was

  449. set free. They just wanted to keep being

  450. able to sell these pigs to live life the way they want to.

  451. They don't really care about this man and they don't like

  452. Jesus coming and messing up the way they like things done.

  453. I think this cried in Mark is just a warning sign.

  454. Of a wrong response to Jesus. If we let other things matter

  455. more to us than Jesus, we are in danger.

  456. Whether that's our livelihood, our jobs, our safety.

  457. Just that sense of yeah, I've got life the way I want it.

  458. Jesus back off. I don't want you to disrupt

  459. things. Maybe just frightened.

  460. Say I don't like the idea. This guy having so much power

  461. and authority, I just I'd rather not know him please.

  462. Marcus warning. These readers don't end up like

  463. this cried. Don't miss out on the life and

  464. the healing that only Jesus can give to us.

  465. Don't be so heartless about the suffering of other people, that

  466. as long as it doesn't affect you personally, the you're fine with

  467. that carrying on. instead join with Jesus in rejoicing and what

  468. has happened to this man's life, and join this man in the

  469. Glorious new purpose, Jesus has given him That's why Mark ends

  470. this passage ends at with this man who's been set free from

  471. these demons and the Glorious new life and purpose.

  472. He's been given Is this man amazingly who'd been possessed

  473. by these demons and massive suffering.

  474. He is chosen by Jesus to be his first missionary in Mark's

  475. gospel. That's verses 18 to 20 Jesus

  476. First Missionary in mark Because this point in marks a marks

  477. narrative, he Jesus hasn't yet sent out the Twelve Disciples.

  478. They're not ready to go out. Yeah, but he does send out this

  479. man. He sends out this Gentile man to

  480. tell other Gentiles about Jesus is amazing scene here.

  481. When you when you slow down and look at this, from the man's

  482. perspective, this begins a wasp in a real blow of disappointment

  483. for him. Because my Birthright, this

  484. story various people in the story have begged Jesus for

  485. things. So the demons begged to be sent

  486. into the herd of pigs and Jesus says yes, the people begged

  487. Jesus to leave their region and Jesus says okay I will Then

  488. Verse 18, the man who'd been doing possess bag to go with

  489. Jesus. This time Jesus says, no.

  490. I'll say a real blow for this knowledge, and you said yes to

  491. the demons. He said, yes, to the people in

  492. this room. Why are you saying yes to me?

  493. Jesus doesn't always say yes to our, please.

  494. But that's because he has better purposes.

  495. Verses 19 to 20, Jesus said to them and go home to your own

  496. people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and I

  497. he has had mercy on you. So the man went away and began

  498. to tell in the decapolis. Hi much, Jesus had done for him

  499. and all the people were amazed. For the first time in Mark's

  500. gospel when Jesus heals someone he doesn't say don't tell people

  501. to buy me because he's not on a Jewish area.

  502. He doesn't have to guard people's expectations about him

  503. know, he's in a gentile area. And so we send this man out to

  504. be a messenger for him to the people around him.

  505. Again, at the end of the story, Jesus himself seems to be

  506. banished from this area, but the message about Jesus is not more

  507. and more people hear about Jesus through this man's message in

  508. verse 20. The good news about Jesus

  509. spreads to the Gentiles. From someone who reaches them

  510. that the 12 disciples couldn't have reached at that time.

  511. See, Mark showing us here that when Jesus sets us free from the

  512. kingdom of darkness. He also in lists and equips us

  513. into his kingdom of light that this man has been set free.

  514. And now he wants to bring the light that only Jesus can bring

  515. to other people in his community by telling them just what Jesus

  516. has done for him. And that is a picture of

  517. discipleship set free from Darkness.

  518. So we can ourselves be part of Jesus mission of light.

  519. And again, when you look at the end of this passage, I always

  520. think I wonder how I quit this man.

  521. Felt to be a missionary for Jesus, because remember, he's

  522. only just being set free here. He spent a really short time

  523. learning from Jesus. I expect this mind.

  524. Kind of says, when Jesus says, go and tell the people what I've

  525. done things going, how can Jesus you've got the wrong guy, I

  526. don't know enough about you. I don't know what to say to

  527. them. There must be someone else you

  528. could send. But Jesus insists on sending

  529. this man to spread the word about him. because there's not a

  530. message about the man, fundamentally To message about

  531. Jesus and all that he has done for him.

  532. See if we make our message about ourselves, let me show people

  533. what a great successful life I have because I'm a Christian,

  534. then yes going to fall flat because we're lying.

  535. Basically, we're making ourselves the heroes.

  536. But who the message this man has is I want to tell you about this

  537. guy. Who set me free, you have mercy

  538. on me. And again as he stands on the

  539. shore, this man weaving off Jesus and his disciples in the

  540. boat. I might and he'd been praying.

  541. Like, he'd never prayed before. Can't believe Jesus gave me that

  542. job. Hon Earth.

  543. Am I going to do this? but in his weakness verse 20,

  544. God uses him. People are amazed at what they

  545. hear from this man. Because he knew the only way I

  546. could do it was if he asked God to help him.

  547. Yeah, we don't know what happened next to this man.

  548. How long a life he lived? How many people he impacted with

  549. his message about Jesus? But he is a picture here of the

  550. sort of person, Jesus can enlist in his mission.

  551. I'm the sort of person is anyone who's been set free by Jesus

  552. Jesus unless and equips, anyone and everyone who's been saved by

  553. him to play a part in his mission, in this world to bring

  554. his light into Dark Places. That is the purpose he has for

  555. you. If you're a follower of Jesus

  556. today, you need to bring his light into the places where you

  557. work, where you study in your streets through the lives, you

  558. live. And through the words, you say,

  559. This world is a dark place not just in the winter when it's

  560. cold all the time. But Jesus wants us to be

  561. messengers of light in this world.

  562. What have we learned about Jesus?

  563. Here, he's stronger than any force of evil in this world and

  564. he calls each one of us to be missionaries for him in this

  565. world. So just as we finish wanting to

  566. invite us, all to take a moment to think about the year ahead to

  567. think about the coming month ahead.

  568. To think about the people in your life right now that God may

  569. be calling you to bring his light to the situations.

  570. God has placed you and he may be calling you to be a messenger of

  571. light in those dark places. I want it to pray that Jesus

  572. would help us do that. Just take a minute to pray and

  573. then I'm going to finish that time in prayer.

  574. Let's take a moment to think about this year.

  575. Who are the people Jesus is Calling You to serve.

  576. Where are the places he wants you to be messengers of light?

  577. Some words from the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians.

  578. The Lord said to me, my grace is sufficient for you.

  579. For my par is made perfect in weakness.

  580. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses

  581. so that Christ's power May rest on me.

  582. That is why for Christ's sake. I Delight in weaknesses in

  583. insults, in hardships, in persecutions in difficulties.

  584. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

  585. Lord Jesus remind us that you are stronger than any force of

  586. evil in this world. But the light has Shone in the

  587. darkness and the Darkness has not overcome it.

  588. Oh Jesus, thank you for shedding your light in our lives.

  589. Please lower. Would you show us the people and

  590. the situations where you want us to be messengers of your light

  591. in the coming days and weeks and months?

  592. And in all of that, Lord help us to depend on your strength.

  593. No our room. For when we are weak and we are

  594. strong, then you can really use us.

  595. We asked us for your glory in our lives.

  596. Amen. We asked us for your glory in

  597. our lives. Amen.