Possession: Satan’s Goals

Glory to His name Glory to His name

There to my heart was the light of fire Glory to His name

Glory to His name Glory to His name

There to my heart was the light of fire Glory to His name

Well Father God thank you so much for the opportunity to come once again into worship

and have this time of meeting together with other believers and most importantly meeting with you

Lord if there is anything within us this morning that is unsure, uncomfortable, guilty

God I pray that you would just bind all of that in these moments

Father we are very privileged to be here and to do what we are doing right now

I know there is probably a few people who would rather be at home in a warm bed watching a show on TV

doing some kind of hobby, just something that just naturally appeals to us more than maybe this moment

but Father it's in these times that your truth shines through a little brighter than we normally see or experience

and there is a decision in our hearts that we have to make as to whether or not we are going to close our eyes

and cover our ears and refuse to hear and see

or if we are going to open ourselves up to what it is that you want to say

So Father this morning I pray that your Holy Spirit would have free reign in this place

and I pray that everyone in this room would be willing to say in this moment God, may your Holy Spirit have free reign in me

because if we are honest we know that we can really make a mess of things pretty quickly in our own lives

we make lots of mistakes, we do lots of things we shouldn't do

but Lord we believe that you are a perfect, all knowing God

and that you can show us things that we have never seen before or never thought that we could see

Lord you can take things from us that we feel like we can't get rid of ourselves

because only you can make the blind see and only you can set the captives free

So Father this morning as we worship together we pray that you would work and move in a mighty way

help us to be humble and submissive

we pray for our brothers and sisters who are not here today and we just ask that you would touch them

touch their bodies as many are dealing with physical issues

touch their hearts and minds as many are dealing with spiritual issues

Lord we give you this time

God we pray for a lot of our young men who are going to a conference this morning

we pray for our sister churches who are meeting right now at this same moment

and we pray

that in all places where people are gathering in the name of Jesus

that your Holy Spirit would be there and that you would reign

Father we give this time to you

we give our hearts to you

and we ask that you would help us to be pleasing and honoring to you in all of it

we love you and we thank you

and we ask all this in Jesus precious and holy name

all God's people said

Amen

Before we get started with the sermon I do want to encourage you guys

I have not said a lot about this

I've kind of let Timmy do the announcements

but for our family discipleship night next Sunday night

if you have not signed up for that if you have not considered signing up for that

I really encourage you to consider that

one of the things that Timmy and I have talked about over the past few years is

and one of the things we talk about as a staff regularly is

you know our church is not going to be much of anything

unless your relationship with God is flourishing at home in your own lives

Graham Chapel is a reflection of the personal worship of the people who are here

so insane that you know the idea of

when when Timmy because this is this is pastor Timmy

this is something God's laid on his heart and we've talked about it for a while now

but when he said this I'm like man

I know what that would have been like several years back for me to sign up and do that

that would have been really awkward

you'd had a hard time getting me to sign up for that

the idea of praying in front of other people in general is is terrifying

it's still terrifying to me

but also like doing that with your family is is awkward

and I can say as we have tried to incorporate in our family as much as we possibly can

that's not an easy thing to do

it's not like these great spiritual moments

it's it's most mostly war

you know trying to get three kids that like together and praying

and spending that time together as a family

and doing that regularly is tough

so I encourage you whether you have a family

whether you're starting a family whether you are single

and you're just thinking about this and it's like man

I'd love to be married one day love to have kids one day

sign up for this come to this

it will change your life

think about what it is that you say you believe in

we say all the time prayer changes things

it changes everything

and if we believe that then it can change your marriage

it can change your relationship with your kids

it can change your relationship with your parents

so if you are a kid

sign your parents up for this

Merry Christmas

incoming

it changes things

we we have to really put feet to words whenever we say we believe in something

so I encourage you guys to do this

come come hang out with us next Sunday night

one Sunday night a month right now is kind of what we're shooting for

so not trying to take a whole lot of your time

but think it's very beneficial

think it will be a great thing for our church as a whole

not just now but especially in the days to come for your family as it grows

so we're talking about possession

we're talking about this idea that God has created you and I

to be possessed by Him

that He is He's created you in a way to be this vessel

that needs to be filled infinitely with Himself

because He is the only infinite thing that exists

He's the only thing that can fill us

this week as I do a lot of reading and praying

and just watching different videos

and just kind of preparing for Sunday

just happened to stumble upon this quote

I think it's great

some of you may be familiar with the French mathematician Blaise Pascal

it's probably according to how far you made it in high school math

as to whether or not you heard his name

but Pascal is pretty famous

he's one of the most famous mathematicians that has ever lived

there's a lot of his theories and a lot of his findings and discoveries in mathematics

that are taught in school today

I remember his name and hearing a lot of his theories

as I was going through math in high school

in the 1600s

I mean this guy lived in the 1600s

okay long time ago

and so he was a mathematician that's what he did before

he got saved

he began to believe in Jesus Christ gave his heart to him

and he kind of waned a little bit away from mathematics

and began focusing on his relationship with the Lord

he writes this piece of literature

he's actually one of the first

what we would consider a

oh what's the term where you defend your faith

apologists yeah he's one of our first

thank you thank you there you go

he's one of our first apologists that we really know about

who like devoted significant time and efforts into publishing this stuff

I'm going to read this quote to you from from this thing that he wrote

it says

what else does this craving

and this helplessness proclaim

but that there was once in man a true happiness

of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace

this he tries in vain to fill with everything around him

seeking in things that are not there

the help he cannot find and those that are

though none can help

since this infinite abyss can be filled only

with an infinite and immutable object

in other words by God himself

four hundred and something years ago

here's this very famous guy that we know from mathematics

who is talking about his faith where he understands

there is this hole within us that can only be filled by God

you will hear a lot of people kind of translate this quote today

in today's terms of there's a God shaped hole

that can only be filled by God himself

in every single one of our lives

and that's kind of what we've been talking about

so in the midst of God creating us to be possessed by himself

possessed by his spirit he wants to fill us

he wants to free us he wants to empower us

and yet at the same time

there's a decision that has to be made by every single one of us

as to whether or not we are going to allow God to possess us

because God is not going to come in unless we invite him in

and give him that free reign

and that authority in our lives to do what only he can do

and one of the things we talked about last week

is that when we reject God in those moments

the scary part of this thing is that when we reject God

the absence of God is inevitably the presence of evil

the absence of God is the presence of Satan in our lives

I forget what chapter, forget what verse

in the Gospel of John there's a passage of scripture that says

the sin of man is that he refuses to acknowledge

and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah

you think about that today

you can do anything in this world that is sinful

and you can be forgiven for it

there is no sin that you have or ever will commit

that will keep you out of heaven

but your refusal to allow Jesus Christ to come into your heart and life

that decision will be the determining factor of whether or not you inherit eternal life

or eternal punishment

that's the life that we live in

that's the decision that we make

now we may not sit here today and say

oh I want to worship Satan or I want to serve him

or I want to let Satan feel me

but inevitably when we reject God

we are opening up that abyss

that hole that is infinite to be filled with the things of Satan

and we may try to fill it with what we think is good

what we think is worthy, what we think is interesting or whatever

but the absence of God is the presence of Satan

we have to acknowledge that, that's where we are

last week we read Mark 1 about this man who was possessed by an evil spirit

and he went unnoticed

he was at the synagogue at a holy place

he was on the Sabbath day which was a holy day

and he was participating in the worship at the synagogue doing holy things

and he was possessed by evil

so it's very possible that we are sitting here this morning

and one of us or multiple of us may be filled with evil in our life

we're being possessed or oppressed however you want to refer to that

by Satan in areas of our life

because as this man encounters Jesus

the presence of God for the first time

he then reveals himself and says why are you interfering with me

why are you interfering

so let's look at Mark chapter 5 verses 1 through 13

Mark 5:1–13

over the past two weeks we have referenced this passage

and this example several times

and I felt like it was appropriate as we've talked about it a lot

because this is one of the most extreme examples

of demonic possession that we see in the New Testament

so we saw this very flying under the radar man

who was possessed by Satan

he was in the synagogue

he was participating

not necessarily participating but he was at least present

in the moment where they were worshipping

scripture was being read

didn't bother him didn't seem to bother anyone else

then you have this man that we're reading about today

who is full-fledged possessed

beyond anything that most of us could ever possibly imagine or comprehend

Mark 5 verses 1 through 13 read this with me

Mark 5:1–13

so they arrived at the other side of the lake

in the region of the Gerasenes

and when Jesus climbed out of the boat

a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him

this man lived in the burial caves

and could no longer be restrained even with a chain

whenever he was put into chains and shackles as he often was

he snapped the chains from his wrist and smashed the shackles

no one was strong enough to subdue him

day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills

howling and cutting himself with sharp stones

when Jesus was still some distance away

the man saw him ran to meet him and bowed low before him

with a shriek he screamed

why are you interfering with me

Jesus son of the Most High God

sound familiar

there's one flying under the radar

here's one who's noticeably

this guy's got something weird going on

and the response is exactly the same

why are you interfering with me

and even addresses him as the son of the Most High God

in the name of God

think about this

the demon is invoking the name of God upon his request

that's pretty easy to do right

how many times have we asked for stuff in the name of Jesus or in the name of God

so he's invoking the name of God

in the name of God I beg you don't torture me

for Jesus had already said to the spirit come out of the man you evil spirit

then Jesus demanded what is your name

and he replied my name is Legion because there are many of us inside this man

then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place

so I want you to think about that

when we talk about Satan flying under the radar

the man last week was best possessed by an evil spirit says why are you interfering with us

this man says why are you interfering with me

and then Jesus asked him well what's your name and he says well

my name is Legion because there's actually many of us in here

so you think it's just all this there's just this one demon but

and I want you to consider this this morning

because this is this should be one of the most eye-opening things

when we talk about this eternal hole within your body

that there is just not enough room in there for you to be possessed by one evil thing

but an infinite amount of evil things

that this man is not just possessed by one spirit

but by like probably at least two thousand spirits that we know of

as the name Legion means many or thousands inside the Roman Empire

and then we see two thousand pigs that we'll read about next week

about how like he sends the pig in at least or sends them in at least two thousand pigs

as they run off the cliff

so so this hole that's within you is not only just capable of being filled with one demonic presence

which would be bad enough but it has the ability to be filled with an infinite number of demonic presence

so the level of evil that you and I are capable of is kind of infinite

as the ability for God to fill you

is only capable from him through his infinite existence

that's a pretty scary thing

so this man is filled with a legion with many demons

and they begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place

there happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby

send us into those pigs the spirit begged

let us enter them

so Jesus gave them permission the evil spirits came out of the man to enter the pigs

and the entire herd of about two thousand pigs plunged down the hill

down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water

point number one

all of our points this morning are dealing with Satan's goals as he wants to possess us

you don't get to see kind of what he's trying to do or accomplish in most cases

but this man is so far gone so far possessed

and ingrained in being filled with evil

that you kind of finally get to see some of Satan's goals for us as people

as he fills this man

so point number one is confusion and disorientation

I don't know about you guys

but when you talk about a man who's living among dead people

that's pretty confusing right

here's a live person who wants to live among dead people

he's howling like an animal even though he's human

and he's going around and he's cutting himself with sharp rocks

he's literally harming his own body

now this is really difficult for us to comprehend and understand

because we don't see a lot of things like this

but there are things about this that we have seen in other people as time goes on

for instance

when I was in youth ministry especially back when I was in Eden several years ago

one of the big things that teenagers were struggling with back in that time

was cutting themselves

we had several youth who cut themselves regularly

it was something they dealt with regularly

and they couldn't explain why

they knew what was wrong, wanted to stop it

those things that they were dealing with in their life

and they talked about the pain from that

took their mind off of the pain from what they were dealing with

I mean just crazy so we see stuff like this

so this shouldn't be that far-fetched but it is

so let's talk a little bit about it

God created us to be possessed

so that he could fill us with himself

so that he could help you see

he could help you hear

he could give you freedom

he could give you the fruits of the spirit

peace, joy, love, patience

all the good things that we talk about

that we say that we believe in

so God wants to possess us to give us those things

Satan wants to possess us so that he can control us

and take from us

God sets us free

he gives us life

not only does he give us physical life

but he gives us eternal life

and even in this moment

Satan is possessing this man and causing him to physically harm himself

now when we talk about confusion and disorientation

think about this for a second

there are a lot of people out there who do not believe in God

they will not acknowledge it

they're just not going to

and so there's a lot of people not inside this room necessarily

but out there this morning

who have no mindset of God

who would look at a story like this and be like

I don't want to live in a cave of dead people

but I would really like to have supernatural strength

that would be appealing to some people, right?

a lot of people took steroids

to get stronger

there's a lot of things that people have done

to have or receive things

that they know is bad for them

and we will make choices in order to gain things

and so this idea of what this man has

could be seen to some people as

I kind of like the idea of that

I kind of like the idea of being free

and not having to do stuff

I'm going to pick on my dad a little bit this morning

my dad lived a pretty wild life back in the day

and I can remember growing up

my friends thought my dad was like the coolest person around

and that was really aggravating

but they always really cool

rode a motorcycle, had long hair

earring when earrings were not acceptable

he just lived out there, did what he wanted

and in a lot of ways that was kind of cool

people looked at that and was like

he does what he wants, he says what he wants

all this stuff, that's really cool

and in the view of things from the outside

that's freedom right there

I want to do what I want to do

I want to be who I want to be

I don't want anybody to control me

and all that stuff

and it's the things that you don't see

that really reveals what's truly there

and so for instance that lifestyle that my dad lived

for a really long time

it came with a cost

it came with a high price

from the outside it looks like a lot of freedom

but man he was paying for it

and his friends were paying for it too

you know every single one of my dad's friends

that he hung out with and he partied with

and he rode motorcycles with and he did all that stuff with

back in the day they're all dead now

he's 65

all his friends that he did all that stuff with

they're dead and gone

does that sound like life?

and a lot of them have been dead for a long time

it's not like it just recently happened

like that's been happening for a while now

Satan comes to confuse and disorientate us

he wants people to think that what he has to offer is good

and that's freedom and that's the choice that you get to have

and it's way better than what God offers

and he tries to make us think that what God is offering us is really bondage

he wants us to lose track of what it is that God really created us for

and if you look back at Genesis 3

Genesis 3:1–5

verses 1 through 5

and you look at the very first moment that Satan steps into this world

and he calls to mankind and he says

let me whisper something in your ear

let me tell you what God really thinks

and in verses 1 through 5 of chapter 3 he says

the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals

and the Lord God had made

and one day he asked the woman

did God really say

you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden

and automatically his question is confusing

it's taking her attention from one thing

and it's moving it to something else

of course we may eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden

the woman replied it's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden

that we're not allowed to eat

God said, she knew what God said

you must not eat it or even touch it if you do you will die

they knew what God said but they didn't understand why God said it

they did not understand what it was about this tree

that was so wrong for them to partake in

and I'm telling you this because I know as a human being

there are a lot of things in scripture

there are a lot of things that you've heard your parents

your grandparents, pastors

other people tell you this morning

and the younger you are the more difficult

you know this but even if you're older

you will remember feeling this way

you remember hearing these things

and you remember what it's like

I don't understand why it's so bad

I don't understand why my mom and dad won't let me do this

I don't understand why we can't do this

I don't understand why scripture says to do this

I don't understand why God wants us to do this

there's all these things that God commands us and calls us not to do

and we don't understand why

and because we don't understand

Satan begins to whisper in our ear

he's saying it's really not a big deal

your parents are just trying to keep you from having fun

they're just trying to make you miserable

they don't know what it's like

to be a teenager because it was that long ago

let me tell you something

it don't matter if it's 2025

or if it's 1625

Blaise Pascal who lived 400 years ago

knows what it's like to go through puberty

to become an adult

and to face this conundrum in your life

where you have to decide one day

am I going to serve God

or am I going to reject him

everything that you struggle with in your life

even though it's unique to you personally

within reason it's very similar to everything that everyone else is going to

guys, Satan wants to confuse us

in verse 4 he says

you won't die the serpent replied to the woman

God knows that your eyes will be open as soon as you eat it

and you will be like God knowing both good and evil

confusion and disorientation

and let me tell you why he wants to confuse you and disorientate you

because if he can confuse you and disorientate you enough

and he causes you to sin

guess what happens

he removes you from the presence of God

what happens when the presence of God is removed

evil quickly fills that void

when you look at Genesis 3

Adam and Eve the punishment for that sin

yes they would die

but the true punishment of that sin was being removed from the garden

and being removed from the presence of God

which they had access to every single day

God would come and walk with him in the cool of the evening

they could see God face to face

they could communicate with him

ask him questions

all they had to do was just wait a little bit and ask God

God why?

why is this so bad?

but they got impatient, confused, disorientated

and Satan's attempt to do this was successful

and inevitably he removed them from the presence of God

and it was just a snowball from that point on

that's Genesis 3 and Genesis 4

we have the first murder as their kids

Cain kills Abel

that's how fast it goes

and it didn't happen right away

it didn't happen overnight

but it came

the day came

point number two

Satan's goal was dominion

you know Satan's original sin

was to try to establish himself as God

so that he could have dominion over God and over heaven

he wanted to be God, he wanted to be worshiped

his main goals

in possessing you and I

is to have dominion over us

now I want you to think about this

here's the difference between God and Satan

Jesus Christ came

and in Philippians chapter 2

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

it says that he emptied himself

of his divine privileges

and his God like qualities

he emptied himself of his deity

to come in human flesh

to be the sacrifice for our sins

and give himself

so that you and I can have life

everlasting

Satan does not empty himself of anything

but comes in to claim

and to take and to keep us in bondage

Jesus emptied himself out so that we could have freedom

Satan comes in to possess, to keep us in bondage

and let's look at this

let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4

2 Corinthians 4:4

we're just going to read the first part of that

as Paul writes

and listen to what he's talking about

the title of the heading is

blindness of people who are perishing

he's talking about how people of the world

who are perishing, who are apart from God

they're blind and they're perishing

look at what he's talking about

Satan who is the God of this world

has blinded the minds of those who don't believe

so Satan has come into this world

he's established dominion over the world

because he's called all of us into sin

we've all sinned, we've all fallen short of the glory of God

he's the God of this world

and he is blinding everyone who does not believe in Jesus

if you don't believe in Jesus Christ

you don't have a relationship with him

you don't see

somebody said it several years ago

there's no better way to say it

I can't explain to you what it's like to be saved

to have a relationship with Jesus Christ

I can tell you about it

but until you experience it for yourself

it is not going to make sense

you're not going to see how much it is worth

giving up everything in this world

to follow Christ for until you see it for yourself

until God opens up your eyes

and you see it for yourself you'll never understand

it cannot be explained

it's that powerful

and Satan blinds the people of this world

because they belong to him

now in Luke chapter 4 verse 6

Luke 4:6

now this is talking about the temptation of Christ

and as Satan has taken Jesus up to the mountains

and he took him up to the highest peak

and he shows him

he's like showing him all the kingdoms of the earth

and he says to Jesus

I will give you the glory of these kingdoms

and authority over them the devil said

because they are mine to give to anyone I please

everything in this world

we love so much

I don't know about you guys

there's so many things I'll write around I see

I'm like man that's awesome

that's beautiful

I'd love to own that piece of land

I'd love to have that

I'd love to do this

like everything that we see is so great

because God created everything when he created it

he said it was good

and Satan has moved into this world

and he set up dominion over this world

and because he has dominion

he can take anything that God created for good

and he can pervert it and distort it

and use it for evil

and that's why we have to be very careful

as we navigate through this world

because anything that is good

can be used to lure us and entice us away from our Father

it doesn't mean that it's sinful

doesn't mean that what you're doing is sinful

anything good can be used to lure us away from our Heavenly Father

we got to be aware of that

he's the God of this world

he's offering this to Jesus

if Jesus will bow down and worship him

do you know why Satan is so willing to give up all the kingdoms of the earth

dominion over the earth

so that Jesus would bow down and worship him?

because he values your soul

more than he does any dirt on this earth

see Satan's an eternal being

your soul's an eternal thing

it's like gold to dirt

he would rather have dominion over you

than have dominion over the kingdoms of the earth

and if he can convince Jesus to bow down and worship him in that moment

the ability for Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins

to save our souls

is null and void

and he has authority and dominion over every single one of us

but because Jesus Christ refused

and he paid the price for our sins

our souls can belong to God

he wanted dominion over all of us

and so his greatest goal in life

is to set up dominion over you

your soul is worth far more than anything in this world to Satan

you know we treat our souls like they're garbage

we treat our bodies, the temple, the spirit

we treat our souls

that this eternal thing is going to cross that threshold from this world to the next

we treat it as insignificant and unimportant

but Satan would give up everything

he has dominion over it to get it

and Jesus has already given up everything so that he could have you

the people or the creator himself values us

and so does his enemy

that's why he offered the world in order to get your soul

point number three

he wants to go unnoticed

now this is tough

because we see this extreme example of this man

but I remind you of things like this because in Mark

whenever this man is possessed by a demon or a spirit

and he's in the synagogue he's in Jewish territory in Mark one

and then what you see in this passage in chapter five is

is that he goes to the other side of the lake of the Gerasenes

where you have the pagan culture

the non-Jewish territory, the capitalist region

if you've been in our Bible study on Wednesday night

you'd know all about this

but if not that kind of give you an idea what's going on

so they go to the other side of the lake

this I mean it's sinful over there

they're not honoring God's law, they're living in idolatry

there's some wild stuff going on

they're still practicing like child sacrifices in some places

I mean they're just doing all kinds of crazy stuff

and so whenever they go on this side of the lake

it's like

this dude's so far gone

but over here it was still being hidden

see Satan does not care to be noticed

but it eventually comes to the point where he is noticed

but nobody cares anymore

we'll talk about that a little bit next week

but in this moment when we talk about

he wants to go unnoticed

Satan revealed his plan when he first rebelled against God

and he fell miserably

God cast him out

God rebuked him

God set up the day that he would be punished

and destroyed for all eternity

because of that decision

when he revealed his plan

he didn't make it very far

so he's not going to reveal his plans

he wants to go unnoticed

in 2007 casting crowns wrote this song

called slow fade

because sin is something that grows

I guarantee you nobody in this room woke up

or when you were a kid said

I think I'd like to kill people one day

or I think I'll be a bank robber when I grow up

or I'm going to be a drunk who rides a moped for the rest of my life

when you're like eight years old nobody says that

but it happens right

okay it's a slow fade

I'm going to read you the verse

first verse and chorus of this song

be careful little eyes what you see

it's the second glance that ties your hands

as darkness pulls the strings

be careful little feet where you go

for it's the little feet behind you

that are sure to follow

now you think about that

because whatever it is that you do

you can rest assured that your kids

are going to try to do it better or worse than you

when we talk about a slow fade

it's not just a slow fade in your own life

it's a slow fade for generations

like the side of the garrisons

that side of the lake they had been fading

for hundreds of years

they were mired up in sin forever

the people in Israel

they were getting to the point where God said

okay it's time Jesus you're up

it's a slow fade

and the people who are coming behind you

will do it worse than you're doing

when you think oh it's my sin

it's what I'm doing

it's not a big deal

I can guarantee you your kids

will do that sin better and more

and harder than you could ever dream of

because it will be a part of who they are

it's a slow fade

when you give yourself away

it's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

and thoughts invade

choices made

a price will be paid

when you give yourself away

people never crumble in a day

you can say ma'am

James you're

it's a little too much

I think you're overthinking it a little bit

okay

we may not have a guy living in our graveyard

across the street howling at the moon

but just over a week ago

there was a guy right down here at the stop sign

killed his own daddy

and his daddy's caretaker

chopped him up and burned the bodies

right here

not in some big city

it's right down the road

it's a slow fade

nobody ever looked at that 46 year old man

when he was 3 or 4 years old and said

I bet he's gonna kill his daddy one day

but he did it

you look at your life

you look at your kids

you look at what it is

that you're clinging to

that you're not surrendering

and you understand something this morning

and you take it with you

and you remind yourself of this every single day

whatever it is that you're clinging to in this life

it will grow

it may seem innocent

it may not seem like a big deal

but sin very much grows

it will take hold of your life

and it will take hold of your kids

and then your grandkids

and in generations to come

you have no idea what that will be

but the awesome thing is

is that if you give your heart to God

it's the same thing

it grows

it's a slow too

you know people want to get saved

and they want to enter into this relationship with God

and they just want things to be turned around and made perfect

and God just do all this magical stuff

like take away, I don't know if you're my age and you're 41

take away 41 years of sin overnight

just make your life perfect like nah

it takes time

it takes time

but it grows too

and God can redeem anything

He can take anything

that was meant for evil

and He can use it for good

He can take any kind of sin

and He can use it to glorify Himself

and you look back at Matthew 1

and you look at the genealogy of Jesus

and you look at all those people who are listed in that genealogy

there are a lot of sinners in that

there was adultery and illegitimate children in that line

there were prostitutes in that line

God can take anything and use it for His will

and His glory, He can redeem anything

He can fill us, He can set us free

He can give us life

but I promise you that Satan wants to control you

and put you in bondage

and the whole time He's doing it

He really don't care anything about you

that's the whole thing about it is

you're just a pawn in His game

you are nothing more than a tool

to break God's heart who's already paid the price for you

so that you could be with Him

you're just a tool

you're a tool in God's hands too

God wants you to use you to build His kingdom

and to be a part of His family

and to receive the inheritance that He's prepared for you

to claim you as one of His children

to give you an eternal home

and yeah we're tools in God's hands

but the tool that Satan wants to use you for

will be discarded and thrown away

it's the difference between being a tool of quality

that you keep and pass it down to generations

versus something you buy at Dollar General

and you throw it in the trash and get rid of it later

that's how Satan uses us

his goal is to confuse and disorientate

to have dominion

and to really go unnoticed

because as long as he goes unnoticed nobody really cares

the moment he makes himself known

and you got people just right down the road killing other people

and doing what this man did just over a week ago

it begins to change our perspective of things like

maybe things are a little worse than what we think they are

it opens up our eyes

who will you be possessed by?

let's pray

Father God

thank you for the opportunity

to read your word once again

to surrender to you

to love you

and devote ourselves in these moments

for every man woman

every young person in this room

I pray Father that they would humble themselves before you

and simply surrender and say God

you can have me

you can have all of me

I don't want to slowly fade into what this world has to offer

or what Satan is offering because

I truly believe that it is not good

and in my heart I can feel that

I can already see those things in my life that are not good

and how they're affecting me

God I pray that you would speak to our hearts this morning

help us to surrender to you and give you free reign

for your Holy Spirit to fill us

to set us free

and to be used to build your kingdom

Lord we love you this morning

we ask all this in Jesus name, Amen