Bringing Light to the Darkness: The Johnson Family's Mission in Spain

Brother Johnson, and he had video and.

Then he'll be preaching to us tonight.

Well, thank you guys for having us and thank you, Pastor,

for giving us the opportunity.

We were certainly excited whenever we were able to be able

to come here.

And so I think at this time, I'll probably just have the video

played and then I'll come up and say a few more things and then

we'll get into the message.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Imagine a place where there is one way to go and it is the wrong

way.

And imagine a place where there is no other option.

Imagine being in a location where there is virtually no witness

of the true and living God.

Such is the nation of Spain.

Millions upon millions of people are in utter darkness in this

country.

Europe used to be at one point the leader in world missions, but

now most of the people are either Catholic or atheistic.

A coldness to the gospel floats over the area like a disease.

The Nathaniel Johnson family is determined to give the people

of Spain a chance to hear the gospel.

Hi, we are the Johnson family, sent out of Arden Road Baptist Church

in Amarillo, Texas.

My lovely wife, Millie, is a daughter of Pastor Erin Denson.

From a young age, I have felt the calling of missions in my life.

I surrendered to that calling at the age of 12, and I have endeavored

to heed that calling through the taking of mission trips and by

going to Heartland Baptist Bible College to prepare for ministry.

Millie felt that call to missions during a mission trip in

Spain at the young age of 5 15.

Spain is a beautiful and historic country located in the southwestern

portion of Europe.

Spain's capital is Madrid, and the country has several other cities

as well, with populations of a million or more.

Spain at one point was really a leader of the world.

During the age of discovery, Spain led the exploration of the

new World.

Today, Spain is part of the European Union.

Spain's politics involve a king as well as a prime minister,

and it is considered a democracy.

Despite some relative freedom, there remains deep in the hearts

of millions of Spaniards, the need of something other than the

dead bones of Catholicism.

Although many in Spain may not admit this, the influence of atheism

as well as a sort of mushing together of other religions is beginning

to grow.

About 61% of Spaniards claim Catholicism as their religion, while

35% adhere to no religion at all.

Only 4% would claim to be for another religion.

And of that 4%, only 1.6% are evangelical Christians.

Despite its beauty and history, Spain is without a clear

gospel witness.

It is a nation starving to death.

Spiritually.

The city the Johnsons are praying about reaching is Valencia,

a metropolis of two and a half million people on the eastern coast

of Spain facing the Mediterranean.

Despite being a prospering city with world class hotels, large

museums and a myriad of things to do for tourists, the one thing

Valencia lacks is is an independent Baptist church in the

urban area.

The Johnsons want to help correct this as the Lord provides

and directs.

The Johnsons will be traveling to Madrid to begin training under

a veteran missionary.

Our plan is to arrive in Spain towards the beginning of 2026.

We will be working with and training under the veteran missionary

Jack and Joy Loveday family.

We will be helping there in the original church plant in the

heart of Madrid.

And we feel very burdened for saturating churches in the inner

city.

Our goals are to help in the church, enroll in language school

and help in the camp ministry.

Their camp ministry is most of the summer and has over 80 kids and

teens from throughout the country every week.

It is a great opportunity to minister and to meet other missionaries

in the country.

We also helped to help another missionary in the country start a

brand new church in Leon, Spain during the tail end of our

internship.

We then hope to return to the States and raise ministry funds.

And then after that we hope to return to Spain to start churches

of.

Our own like Valencia.

There are cities all over Spain in desperate need of just an

opportunity to be told of the deception of the Catholic Church

and of the freedom found in Jesus Christ by God's grace.

Nathaniel and Millie Johnson want to meet this need.

Here is what you can do.

We ask you to pray for us as we endeavor to reach Spain with the

Gospel and for the glory of God.

Many die in heathen lands.

Many dine next door.

Millions die who never heard the love of Christ before.

They need someone to tell them that he died to take their place.

They need someone to tell them of his mercy.

Love in grace.

Lord, take my heart.

I place it in your hands.

Lord, break my heart if that's what's in your plan.

Whatever you have to do to take full control Lord, give me your

heart for souls.

Whatever you have to do to take full control Lord, give me your

heart O for soul.

I made that while I was still in college and so there's a few updates.

We are planning on leaving towards the beginning of April or

the end of April actually.

We're just waiting on our visas.

We're working on that right now.

I think it's working now.

Sorry about that.

But as I was saying, so we are planning leaving towards the end

of April.

And if you just pray for us about our visas, you probably understand

some of the bureaucracy and things that go in there.

And so we've got everything turned in.

Into Spain now.

We have to turn in some things to the Houston consulate and just

wait for that to be approved.

And so we are looking for an apartment and things like that.

The missionaries we'll be working with, they've been there

for 43 years, so I think that's a testament to their faithfulness.

And they started several churches and they run the camp ministry

there.

And the camp ministry, it's every other week.

And they literally bring in all these teenagers and kids on the

train system, and they bus them out there from there, and they

have them there and they preach to them and they learn about

the word of God.

And many of the preachers that are taking over and starting churches

that are nationals have gone up and grown up in that camp.

And so we're really excited about.

I think this is dying.

I can just use this.

I can just use this.

Be perfect.

Sorry about that.

And so if you would just pray for the camp ministry.

And then also if you would just, you know, people ask us a lot

of times, you know, well, what can we pray for you specifically

about?

And of course, visa needs, financial needs, things like that.

But really, I think that if you come across our prayer card or

you think of us, we want you to pray for the people of Spain,

because me and my wife know where we're going to spend eternity,

but the people of Spain do not.

And if I.

If I could put it this way, they're really living and dying without

ever encountering the truth.

The city we're planning on getting to, after we serve and learn

the language, we will come back, have a few more meetings, renew

our visas, and then we'll move everything down to Valencia.

And you're talking about two and a half million people and not

a single independent Baptist missionary in the city.

And we do.

We found out about one church that we believe is preaching the

gospel, but outside of that, we don't know of anyone.

And so they need someone to go and tell.

And if you think of it this way, if you go out in Fort Worth

area or in really most places in the United States, and you invite

people to church, right?

You give them a gospel tract and you say, hey, will you come to

church with me?

One of their first questions is, well, what kind of church do

you go to?

Right.

Often I find that to be anyways.

And it's because we, as Americans, we're accustomed to choosing,

we're accustomed to different things and we understand that.

But over there, the only choice really is Catholicism.

And so if you go there and you hand someone a tractor, you invite

them to church, they don't.

They assume that the church you're talking about with Catholicism

and outside of that, it's really atheism.

And so we just want to give these people an opportunity.

And you say, well, what's wrong with that?

Well, the Catholic Church there and widespread, they teach

work, salvation there, it's very sacrament based.

And so they're all about, you know, you go into a church, you see

people paying to have prayers made up for them and you see people

paying to have literally holy water sprinkled on them as if that's

going to change their life.

But the only thing that's really going to change their lives

is the person of Jesus Christ.

And they believe in a person of Jesus, but they don't believe

in the Jesus of the Bible because the Jesus of the Bible provides

salvation once and for all.

It's not something that we do.

We accept him one time and then we're saved, right?

And I mean, thank the Lord for eternal security.

It's such a blessing.

And they don't have that.

They live in fear.

Even the most diligent Catholic you will find if you ask

them, dead to their face, they say, do you know that you'll spend

an eternity in heaven?

They would say, well, how could we know?

How could we know?

And that's sad to me.

And so we just want to go and show them what the Bible says and

see what the Lord's going to do about that.

And so we're excited to be with you guys and we're excited to

share a little bit about what's going on.

It's a little bit of, I know it's a bummer it's Super Bowl Sunday,

right?

But last I checked, I don't think the Dallas Cowboys are playing

in it.

So we should be perfectly fine and not a problem at all.

I told him earlier, I said, I'm going to have to keep looking

back here and seeing if they're playing on the TV behind

me.

And so if I see all the eyes back there, I know what's going on.

But no, I honestly, it's funny.

I was talking to the missionary we'll be working with,

I think it was yesterday or maybe Friday, and he was telling

me, he's like, yeah, it's great over here.

The super bowl is not until midnight.

And so, you know, you get done with all your services and then you

watch the Super Bowl.

And I was like, well, that's neat.

But honestly, I hate both teams.

And so if they could both lose, that would be great.

So we'll just hope for that, right?

And then we're going to have a great service.

So if you turn your Bibles to Mark, Chapter five.

Mark, Chapter five.

And while you're turning there, I want to share with you a

quick poem.

This doesn't necessarily have much to do with my sermon, but I

think it helps us maybe catch a glimpse of the need for missions,

right?

And what's going on maybe in the world.

And I look around and I see a church that, you know, you've got

flags up and you've got.

You've got missionary prayer letters and a church that loves missions,

no doubt, and a church that understands what missions is about.

And so I think you'll maybe understand and resonate a little

bit with this poem.

And it's called the Disappearing Missionaries.

And we see it in Spain, but really we see it around the world

and even in the United States.

But it goes like this.

Ten potential missionaries heard God's call divine One didn't

count the cost and then there were nine Nine eager missionaries

burdened about the world's fate One was convinced you're too

old and then there were eight Eight studying missionaries learned

to preach of heaven mom and dad said, not with my grandkids and

then there were seven.

Seven sincere missionaries headed for the sticks One couldn't

raise his support and then there were six.

Six anxious missionaries eager to arrive One got discouraged waiting

on his visa and then there were five.

Five idealist missionaries landed on foreign shores One suffered

culture shock and then there were four.

Four determined missionaries Busy as they could be One couldn't

keep his marriage together and then there were three Three weary

missionaries trying not to be blue One didn't return from furlough

and then there were two.

Two seasoned missionaries Praising God for what he's done One

was called to glory and now there's only one One age missionary

thanked the Lord for him his eyes fixed on Jesus he hasn't let

the vision dim One lonely missionary his days of remaining

shrink so few who will go and help him?

Who will go will you?

And it's very true in Spain and Europe and really across the

world.

And, you know, we try to keep in contact with the love days.

And they said that often they're the sponsor.

You have to have a sponsor if you get a religious visa in the country.

And so a lot of missionaries come to them seeking sponsorship,

not necessarily to even work with them, but just to get their

paperwork approved to get into the country.

And they said that they really stopped counting about 35 missionaries

who have come and gone.

And I'm not saying that all the reasoning is bad there.

Obviously, the Lord moves people.

I understand that.

But I will say that there's a lot of people that don't stick with

it.

And I think the Lord definitely is happy when we're faithful

to what he calls us to do.

And the people of Spain need some people that'll go and just be

faithful.

And, you know, our heart really is any church we're in.

We want to just burden people about the need of world missions

and to burden young people to say that, you know, there needs to

be another generation that rises up.

We haven't seen a lot of missionaries our age that are on

deputation.

We've really ran only into maybe two that are about our age

that are looking to go.

And there's a lot of older missionaries that are coming off

the field, and they need some new people to go and to try to fill

in those shoes and to do what the Lord wants in their lives.

And so I'd like to encourage you in that way.

But Mark, chapter five.

Mark, chapter five.

And I won't be long tonight, obviously, so you can go watch the

ball game, I guess, but I am going to take the time.

We're going to be looking at 20 verses, and I don't know what

you're willing and accustomed to doing, but if you would please

stand for the honor and the reading of God's word, I will go

ahead and read the verses.

I think it's important that we get a sense of what's going on.

But I will read super fast if you listen super fast, and we'll

be on our way.

And let's start in verse one.

And they came over into the other side of the sea, into the country

of the Gadarenes.

And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him

out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling

among the tombs.

And no man combines him, no, not with chains, because that he

had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains

had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces.

Neither could any man tame him.

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs,

crying and cutting himself with stones.

And.

But when he saw Jesus afar Off he ran and worshiped him and cried

with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus?

Thou son of the Most High God?

I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.

For he said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

And he said, what is thy name?

And he answered, saying, my name is Legion, for we are many.

And besought him much that he would not send them away out of the

country.

Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine

feeding.

And all the devils besought him, saying, send us into the swine

that we may enter into them.

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.

And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine.

And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea.

They were about 2,000 and were choked in the sea.

And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and

in the country.

And they went out to see what it was that was done.

And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil

and had the Legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind.

And they were afraid.

And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed

with the devil and also concerning the swine.

And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed

with the devil prayed him that he might be with them, howbeit Jesus

suffered him not.

But saith unto him, go home to thy friends and tell them how great

things the Lord hath done for thee and have had compassion on thee.

And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things

Jesus had done for him and all men did marvel.

You may be seated.

Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

Thank for the opportunity to come into your house, Lord.

I just ask that you would allow your word to speak to us, Lord,

and allow us to be sensitive to your spirit, because we know you

want to speak, Lord, and you want to move.

Lord, I ask that you be with all the missionaries around the world

that are either having or have had services today.

And I just ask that you would bless them and just be with all the

missionaries that this dear church supports, Lord, and just be

with the city of Hazlett, Lord, and the greater Fort Worth

area, Lord.

I just ask that this church would be a wonderful light to the

community, Lord, and just help us all to do your part, your work,

Lord, and just thank you for who you Are thank you for this day

in Jesus name.

Amen.

And so, before we get into the message today, I would like to ask

you all a question.

And it's probably mostly for the gentlemen, if I were to assume.

But how many of you would honestly say that you frequently

lose things?

Like, frequently.

I would say that I frequently lose things.

That would be my testimony.

I would say that I frequently lose my wallet, probably most of

all.

And yeah, I'm notorious for it.

And I will lose trackers.

You know, I've tried.

I've tried the apple thingies, the airtags or whatever you call

it.

And the other one, I've tried them and usually, honestly, they

don't even make it into my wallet before I've lost the packaging.

And if they do make it into my wallet, then I'll just lose my phone

and I can't track it.

And so it's really a bad habit and it's a bad thing.

And so one of two things usually happens when something gets

handed to me.

I will either A, hand it to my wife or B, I will lose it.

So those are the two options, pretty much.

And so maybe some of you resonate a little bit in that way.

And, you know, people misplace things, right?

If you had asked me in college, where I spent most of my

time, I would love to say the library, because I was studious like

that.

But honestly, it would have been lost and found.

That's the truth.

That's where I spent most of my time.

But people lose things, right?

But how about this?

If we take it a step further, how many of you would say that people

sometimes misplaced priorities?

It happens, right?

If you had asked me when I was a kid, what would you rather, a frozen

pizza or a steak dinner, I probably would have said a frozen

pizza, because how many homeschoolers in here would say,

man, that's like peak lunch.

Okay, am I the only one?

I guess so, anyways.

But that was peak lunch for me.

And so, you know, but to me, that would be a little bit of sense

of a misplaced value.

You know, obviously we know the steak's worth more, but if we

take that out and we look at our society and it's not necessarily

the message, but I'm trying to get us to a point, and we look out

and we see people that, let's say, they value comfort over character,

right?

Or even, for instance, you know, there will be a lot of people

that won't go to church on Sunday night because of a football

game.

And I think that would be that they're valuing maybe entertainment

over church.

And I'm not faulting anybody.

We all do that, right?

We misplace values.

But I would say this.

I would say that often if we look around in our own lives and

in the lives of us, it's pretty important that we don't misplace

where our relationship with Christ is, right?

And I think a lot of people today have walked away from a relationship

with God because they have misplaced values, which really have

just turned into misplaced priorities.

And me keeping track of my stuff is probably honestly a lost

cause, right?

But keeping track of a relationship with Christ is not.

And so in this passage, if I could title it, and I usually don't,

but I usually title it the Maniac Missionary, right?

This is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible.

And we see, you'll see in the passage, I mean, this guy, he's a

maniac, right?

And later on, Jesus makes him and turns him into a missionary.

And we see other things.

We see, you know, a bunch of pigs that run into a water.

There's a lot of neat things going on here.

But I think what we see a lot of is some people with misplaced

priorities.

And I think that will make sense soon.

And first of all, you know, we have to realize that God's power

trumps overall, right?

And we see that.

And this passage also reminds us of who we are without Christ.

And lastly, I believe it leaves us with some positive and

negative examples.

And I like examples.

And I think this passage is one where we can look at and use

it to kind of compare our own lives and see what we really prioritize.

And so just for some background on the passage, we know

that right before Mark chapter five is Mark, chapter four, right?

And what happens in Mark, chapter four?

Well, there's some parables at the beginning of the chapter, right?

There's a parable of the sower and the seed being spread out on

different grounds, right?

And then there's the parable of the mustard seed.

We know that the faith of the mustard seed.

And then what happens is Jesus, ultimately, he purposes to

go on to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is about 13

miles long and 7 miles wide.

So almost like a lake, like a large lake, if you think of it that

way.

And he takes some of the disciples.

And, you know, a lot of these disciples are master fishermen, right?

They know how to operate a boat, many of them.

And yet they get on the water here.

And we know that there's A pretty bad storm.

And they're even worried about their life, right?

And so here they are, they're on this water and it's a pretty bad

storm.

Usually it would take about two hours to get across if the day

was clear and it was nice out.

But because of the weather, it could have taken anywhere from four

to eight hours.

And so we're talking most of the night endeavor here to get across.

And remember, they go and get Jesus and he literally says, peace,

be still, right to the storm.

And I think an important part that we know here is how do the disciples

respond?

What do they say?

They say, what manner of man is this, right?

And I think Jesus here is showing what manner of man he truly

is.

And all this time he's giving these parables about faith, really,

and then he kind of shows faith in action.

And he's kind of trying to illustrate what faith is and what

faith looks like in the disciples lives and of course, in

the Lord's life.

And so that brings us to verse one.

And here they are.

They crossed the sea, right?

And it's been, you know, we only drove about five hours here

from Amarillo, Texas.

But you know, even after that, you're wore out, you're tired.

And so they know that doubt they're tired, right?

They probably stopped at, you know, 711 to get the last Red Bull

or whatever on their way or whatever.

But anyways, they get on the dock, right?

They get out.

And we know that immediately this man comes and meets them.

And what do we know about this man?

Well, we know he's not clothed properly.

We know he has cuts all over him.

And I lived in Oklahoma City for four years.

And I can tell you this, when someone comes over me looking like

this and they're running at me, my instinct is not to just stay

there, right?

Like I'm back in the car.

And so I could just imagine if we do.

And we have to remember these are real life events, these are real

things that happened.

And so here the disciples are here, they're probably a little worn

out.

You know, Jesus was a man too, so he might be a little worn out,

a little tired.

And they're here and this man's running at him.

And I could just imagine Peter saying, you know, Jesus, we can just

get back in the boat.

The water's fine now.

We can go back to the other side.

This is getting weird, right?

But no, but Jesus had purpose to come here.

And here this man is pictured and they had been binding him with

fetters.

They had been chaining him, right?

And you might say, well, what does that mean?

Or why are they doing that?

Well, well, I think if we could apply it to today.

They're trying to meet this man's spiritual needs with physical

solutions.

This man had a spiritual problem.

I mean, he's possessed with devils.

He has a sin problem.

I mean, we have to remember this is a real guy.

I mean, he had a real family.

And he's in a desperate way, right?

And in a desperate situation.

And we look at today and all around, people around us are trying

to meet their spiritual problems with physical solutions.

We see it in Catholicism.

We see it in people looking at money, at entertainment, at drugs,

at alcohol, at works, all these things, trying to appease their

conscience or trying to distract themselves from the fact

that we all have a sin problem.

And here this story is set up to understand just how difficult

the situation was.

I mean, you put yourself in this man's shoes.

I mean, he needed help, right?

He's a man with no hope, no direction, no future.

And here Jesus comes and he meets this man.

I find it, the wording in this passage is amazing.

He meets this man's spiritual problem with a spiritual solution,

right?

He doesn't bind him with fetters.

He doesn't chain him or handcuff him.

No, he casts out the devils and really he saves this man's life.

And, you know, he had been in the caves hollering and screaming

all night and through the night.

And I find it amazing even, and this is a side note, but I find

it amazing that even the devils understood who Jesus was,

that they confess that he's the son of God.

And I find it kind of convicting in my own life that we

look at the disciples.

These are followers of Jesus, right?

And they're flawed, they're humans.

And yet they're asking themselves, what manner of man is

this?

And in some ways, the devils understood better than they did who

Jesus was.

Now, obviously, they didn't trust him or anything like that,

but the disciples are learning, what manner of man is this?

They're with Jesus while all this is happening.

They see this conversation happening.

They see what's going on, and they're learning who Jesus is and

what he's about.

And, you know, Jesus had more power than that of calming a storm.

He had the power of the saving of a soul.

And, you know, we all have head knowledges of Christ's power,

but do we truly trust Christ?

And I just imagine, and I don't want to be critical, I find

it convicting in My life, if I think of it this way, if I were to

put a sign up sheet in the back and I said, who would like to

go back in time and watch Jesus calm a storm?

Who wouldn't want to do that?

I think we would have a line from here to there signing up for

that, right?

And you're a Baptist church, you understand volunteer sheets and

sign up sheets, right?

But at the same time, if I put a sign up sheet and this is for me,

I need this.

If I put a sign up sheet for there that said, who wants to go

soul winning this Saturday?

I would say less people would sign up and you would say, well,

what's the connection there?

Well, I understand that today Jesus might not calm a storm per

se.

He could, I mean he has the power to, but he is still doing the

greatest miracle that he ever did and that's the saving of a soul.

And yet we become so distracted and we become so caught

up in the physical things of life, really, like, just like these

people that were trying to meet this man's needs with physical

solutions, we get caught up with the physical things of life

and we forget that God still wants to change the lives in the

community around us.

And you know, God can save the most hopeless in our society.

And God wants to use you to tell your family and your friends

and your co workers about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I find it amazing here that, you know, it's the saddest

part of the story.

You see this great miracle happen, you're excited, you're fired

up about what the Lord's doing, right?

And then in verse 14 through 17, you know what we see?

The people of Gadara segregate themselves from God.

Why?

Because they prioritize the physical over the spiritual.

And you say, well, what do you mean, what's going on here?

Well, the people come, they come to see what's going on.

They see this man clothed and in his right mind, right?

And they come here and I don't think, I don't think from the reading

of the passage, and I can't say definitively, but if you look

at it at the end of verse 14, and they went out to see what it

was that was done and they come to Jesus and see him that was

possessed of the devil and had the legion sitting and clothed in

his right mind.

And they were afraid.

So yeah, the word afraid here, it carries the sense that they're

in awe, they're in shock, they're amazed, right?

They're amazed by what's happening.

And I Don't see right there that they have a big problem with

the fact that this man was healed.

But if you look in verse 16, it says, and they that saw it told

them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil.

And also concerning the swine.

And then look in verse 17 right after it talks about the swine.

And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

And so, you know, here they are, they come to find Jesus.

They see this man healed.

And maybe they say this, well, I'm glad that the Lord's doing a

work here.

And then the people that saw what happened, they say, well, yeah,

but at what price?

At what expense?

And then all of a sudden the people say, wait, this is gonna cost

me something.

I don't know about this Jesus.

And you see what's happening here and we see it in our own lives.

And they come down here and they're more concerned that they

lost swine than they are gladdened that this man's spiritual

needs were met.

And they're more content to live with sin and swine than they

are to live with the person who has to offer life and joy and

peace.

And if we look at our own lives, I understand many of you are

saved and we're saved individuals.

But how often do we rather.

How often do we, rather than being driven to God for what he has

to offer, we drive ourselves away from God for what we feel like

we have to sacrifice.

We do it all the time.

We do it all the time in our lives.

And could it be that we value the swine in our lives more than

that of the saving of a soul?

And I think there's a lot of application that can be drawn there.

And I don't know many of you very well at all, but I just think

that so quick we.

We are to say, you know, we'll go to church and we want to see Jesus

do a work and we'll even pray a prayer for the missionary and we'll

pray a prayer for our neighbor and we'll pray a prayer for our co

worker.

But the second the Lord says, hey, it's going to cost you some

time to go witness to your neighbor, or it's going to cost you

some time to go witness to your co worker, or it's going to

cost you a little money to go give to the missionary, the minute

it costs us something, how quick are we to say, well, I don't

know about that, and we wouldn't say it outwardly, but in

the way we act and the way we withhold, we allow these things into

our lives, these physical things in our life.

And I find it amazing.

It's no sin to own swine.

Like, from what I understand, it's not that it was this great sin

that they were the pig farmers.

No, I think, you know, if you look at the passage, I wonder, why

did Jesus let those devils go into this wine?

He didn't have to grant them permission to do that.

And so I just wonder if maybe he allowed them to do it to expose

these people's hearts.

And I think sometimes God allows these things into our lives

to really expose our hearts and to show us that what we are doing

is we're having misplaced values that have led to misplaced

priorities in our life.

And I wonder what would happen if Jesus walked through those back

doors and said, I want to do a great work with your church, and

I want to do a great work in this city, and I want to do a great

work around the world through this church.

But it's going to cost you something.

How would we react?

And I'm not saying it costs the same for everybody.

For us, it's going to cost us moving across the world so that we

can give these people an opportunity to hear the gospel.

It costs everybody differently, but it costs something.

And so often we're not willing to pay the price.

And we'll say, you know, I'm fine with Jesus to be here, but I

don't want him messing with my life.

And that's really the way we live sometimes.

And so the question I have for you today is, what is more valuable

to you?

The physical needs in your life or the spiritual needs in the

lives around us?

Because if we go out into the world and, you know, so often we'll

see somebody that's sick, or we see somebody with a physical need,

or we'll see, you know, in Spain, they don't have a lot of physical

needs.

Financially, they're usually fine, but they have a lot of spiritual

need.

And sometimes we're so quick to see the physical first, and we

forget that every often everybody we're walking by, they

have a heart within them.

And they might look fine on the outward, but they have a heart

within them that is darkened by sin.

And they need a Savior.

And so, you know, I find the sad part about it is often, you know,

God will let you have the wrong priorities.

He might send consequences into your life.

But you know what the real problem is?

You'll be left with a heart for swine and not for souls.

And I don't know about you, but I don't want that to be said

of my life.

And it can be so easy to look at the world and to say, well, there's

no hope.

And you know, even in Spain there's really a battle going on

between the Catholics and some of this liberal socialism that's

coming up.

And there's.

I don't know if you follow the news, but there's a lot of things

going on there and it can be easy to look at that man say, wow,

there's really no hope in that situation.

But really we have a hope within us and it's the furtherance

of the gospel and God wants to use us to further the gospel.

And so my question is, what do you have in your life that wedges

you from fervently proclaiming what God has given you?

And you know, an encouragement and a question that often has come

that said, you might say, well, I just had too many people

say no, I've had too many slam the door in my face.

But if you look at this passage, if people were saying no

to Jesus, they're going to say no to us.

And they turned Jesus away.

And if you look at verse 17, I find it amazing, the wording here.

And they began to pray him to depart out of the coast.

Verse 18.

And when he was coming to his ship, he that had been possessed

with the devil, prayed him that he might be with him.

Him.

You notice the difference there?

Here this whole town is, they want him gone.

And yet this man who's just been healed, he comes to Jesus and

he says, I just want to be with you.

And he departed.

He prayed to go with him.

And look what Jesus says.

Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, go home to thy friends

and tell him how great things the Lord hath done for thee and have

had compassion on thee.

And you know, sometimes I think we tend to over complicate

things in our mind and what has God really asked of us?

And I think really it's like this man.

You know, sometimes there's times in our life where we just,

we really want to be with Jesus.

We just wish we could get raptured out of here, right?

But really Jesus has left us here with a purpose.

And what is that?

Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord

hath done for thee and have had compassion on thee.

And it starts there.

And you know, I think it's great you learn the doctrines of

the Bible and all these things, but really what you need

to do is as you go out there and you tell people about the great

things the Lord hath done for thee.

And sure, they might have some questions that you might always have

an answer to.

And we should.

We should study our Bible and we should be able to prepare to answer

these questions.

But at the same time, the Lord just asks you to start by simply

going and telling.

You know, it's not even that you have to be a missionary.

Notice the group that he sent this man to go home to thy friends.

You know, you have friends and probably family members that are

out there and on their way to a devil's hell.

And we say we believe in that, and yet we act as if we don't because

we do so little and we're so unwilling to go out of our way to

do anything for the cause of Christ.

Often, and in some ways we might submit to the Lord, but often

there's things in our life that we just don't give up to Him.

And if I could put it this way, how silly would it be if this

maniac, if you will, if he had gone to.

If he had gone back up into the caves and he said, jesus, you

know, I know you healed me.

I know that you saved me.

I know that you cast out these devils, but I'm just going to stay

up here.

I'm going to keep screaming and hollering, and I'm going to keep

living the exact way I did.

That would be pretty silly, right?

That would not be smart, I don't think.

But yet sometimes, and I know maybe not in the same extreme way,

God will save us, and yet we act the exact same way.

And I think sometimes that is a reason that keeps us from being

able to proclaim the gospel.

Because we go into work and we act the same way everybody else does,

and we talk the same way they do, and we listen to the same things

they do and we watch the same stuff they do, and we just try to

blend in.

And then maybe you get a conversation about church and you

say, oh, yeah, I go to church, but you don't look any different

than them and I don't look any different than them.

And why would they want what we have if we don't have the joy

of the Lord, if we're not trying to be like Christ?

And Pastor talked about walking in his steps and being like

Christ?

And I think that is really a key to being able to be a witness.

And, you know, the world needs people who see people before they

see things.

And we're so quick to just see the physical.

And, you know, why would we go back to that which God has freed

us from?

God has freed us from so many things.

And especially for young people, they just.

They just want to go and experience the world.

But God's freed you from that.

Why would you do that?

Why not serve him?

Because there's a world out there who needs you.

And so my favorite part of this story is if.

And I won't have you turn there for sake of time.

But if you were to look at this passage parallel in Luke, and

you were to look to see what would happen, from what I understand,

the research I have done, this region which they call Decapolis,

it's these 10 cities, right?

Gadara would have been one of them.

And so it's these 10 cities on this side of the Sea of Galilee.

And later on in Luke, Jesus comes back, and this is the same

place where Jairus daughter is healed.

And it's also the same place where, if we remember right, the

woman is literally on her hands and her knees just touches

the hem of his garment.

Why?

Because there's so many people around him.

And I just wonder, you know, if you look in verse 20 and he departed

and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus

had done for him, and all men did marvel, you know what they see?

They see a man who's genuinely changed, genuinely impassioned about

the things of the Lord.

And he takes his mission seriously.

He takes what the Lord has left him to do seriously.

And he goes and he tells people about the great things that

Jesus have done.

And people realize, what manner of man is this?

He's the Son of God.

He came to die for our sins, and they want to hear him.

And so they come and then they gather around Jesus and they learn

of him.

And you know, just like the parable in chapter four, we have

no idea.

We have no idea who's all going to accept in Spain, but we

just want to go and tell the great things that the Lord have done.

And that's what the Lord wants you to do.

And yet we have so many hookups.

And I think a lot of our excuses really just stem from the

fact that we prioritize the physical over the spiritual.

Because we say, well, what will they think?

Or, I don't know that I have time for that.

Or, I don't know that I have the money for that.

And yet God wants to do a great work through you in this church

to see the Gospel furthered.

And we all have a part in it.

And, you know, we can witness the changing of a life.

Isn't that amazing?

We can see the transformative power of God in the people around

us.

And if I could end with this, I'm just gonna end with a quick testimony.

And I just want it to be about the Lord and what he did.

But I was probably about 14, 15 years old, and the Lord, you know,

really, I want you to genuinely ask yourself, when's the

last time you told somebody about the Lord?

Like, think back.

If we're having a hard time remembering when we even brought

up the name of Jesus to somebody who is a stranger or somebody

that we know needs him, I think that's probably a problem.

And so, you know, the Lord had burdened my heart.

You know, I wasn't telling people about Jesus like I should

be.

And so I was probably 14 or 15.

I really felt like the Lord wanted me to be able to see someone

saved, right?

And so I took a mission trip to Belize.

And you think of Belize as an island nation, right?

Beautiful, but really a lot of poverty, a lot of physical need,

but also a lot of spiritual need.

And so we were there, and we drive up, we get dropped off, and

we're on this dirt road, and there's this house.

And so we go up to it, and it's this little shanty, if you will.

It's like basically pallets and a tarp on the top, right?

And we go.

And there's not even really a door, but this little young man comes

out, and he's probably about 10 years old, maybe nine.

And his name was Jaden.

And I said, hey, Jaden, would you like to come to church with us?

They spoke English there and everything.

So he said, yeah, sure.

And so he came Thursday night, and he came Saturday for our youth

rally.

And then he came Sunday morning for our special.

We were doing a kids program and, of course, a main service as

well.

And so we did the kids program.

They did a salvation message.

And he raised his hand that he wanted to accept the Lord, but he

didn't go forward.

You know, he was nervous.

And so I went up to Jay and I said, hey, would you like to, you

know, accept the Lord?

He said, I would.

So I took him through another Romans road.

I had a little pocket New Testament.

And he accepted the Lord right there.

And I was so glad by that.

But the thing that will always stick with me, it's not just that

the Lord answered my prayer requests and, if you will, gave me

the opportunity to do what I believed he wanted me to do.

And that's what he'll do.

He'll equip us.

If he puts something on your heart, he's going to help you to

accomplish it.

And it wasn't just that.

It was what happened right after.

I had been getting Jaden fruit snacks, or not fruit snacks, like

gummy bears from Albanese, like, all week.

And he didn't know how to chew them, so he would just swallow them

because he had never had, you know, they were poor, they didn't

have candy like that.

And so he was just swallowing them.

And I said, hey, Jayden, would you like my.

It was really my last packet.

I said, would you like my last packet of gummy bears?

And you know what he said to me?

It'll stick with me forever.

He said, brother Nate, why would I need gummy bears when.

When I have Jesus?

And you know what really immediately convicted me in the way

that I live is so often I tell the Lord, in the way that I'm living,

I say, why would I need Jesus when I have?

And I don't think it's gummy bears, but I think that all of us,

from the young people in this room to the elder, you know, we have

these things in our life that we're basically telling the Lord,

why do I need you?

I have this.

And you know what?

We're left with a heart for the swine and not for souls.

Thank you, Pastor.