When Jesus Met the Demoniac

Man, thank you all for joining us this morning.

Thank you for being here.

We're so thankful that you're here, especially if you're a first-time guest.

We just want to say welcome.

My name is Jonah.

Let me make sure I'm on the right sermon.

My name is Jonah.

I'm the student pastor here at Church to Grow.

Been here since June of last year, if you don't know me.

But this morning I got the privilege of starting out a new sermon series.

I'm not going to tell you, well, you know what it is.

It's up there.

When Jesus Met.

We just got out of a tough series for Russ and Nathan.

I'm glad they waited to let me preach until this week after we finished the last series, you've asked for it.

But man, I'm excited for this morning.

First off, do we uh do we got any coffee, coffee snobs in here?

I don't mean like you like, you know, Folgers or like a Keurig.

I'm talking about like a coffee snob.

Like you're you're serious about your coffee.

Anybody?

All right, one of y'all's got a daughter.

Um so there's been a few moments in my life where I've feel like I've discovered something, came across something new that have kind of changed the trajectory.

Um that might be a little bit of an overstatement.

Uh that I've come across some things in my life that have just changed my perspective on things so much, and one of those things is coffee.

Um, but not just coffee, but like good, good coffee.

Um, the coffee snob kind of coffee.

Uh I started out drinking coffee in college uh when I was a freshman because I just came to the realization that it was impossible to get through college without just this unhelpsy, unhealthy obsession and um consumption of coffee.

So my freshman year of college, I forced myself, um, true story, to acquire the taste of black coffee.

Um I knew I had to drink a lot of coffee in college.

I didn't want to pay five dollars for a cup of coffee, so I said I'm gonna force myself to like and enjoy just plain black coffee.

So I did it.

They say if you can force yourself to do it, then you you can acquire the taste to do that.

So that's what I did.

I could get coffee from anywhere, anytime, drink it with a smile on my face, and go about my day.

Um, however, everything changed my sophomore year when one of my friends, um, his name's Keel Compton.

Uh Keel, if you're watching, appreciate you, brother.

You changed so much of my life.

Uh, Keel Compton introduced me to pour overs.

Does anybody know what a pour over is with coffee?

Okay, so Keel Compton introduced me to this method of making coffee called a pour over.

Um, and it's this, it's, you know, it's still coffee, um, but you make it, you grind your own beans, you go through this whole process, um, and the coffee has so much more flavor.

Uh, this is great coffee.

I love our hospitality ladies and the coffee they make every week.

Um, but a pour over is a pour over, and it is good coffee.

I went from a guy that was content with folgers and K cups to a guy that has an online subscription that sends specialty coffee beans to my house on a monthly basis.

I went from popping a K cup into a curike to spending 10 to 15 minutes every morning boiling water, grinding my own coffee beans, measuring everything out to the gram, all for one single cup of coffee.

You can ask my wife how much she loves here in my coffee grinder at about 7, 7 a.m., 6:30 sometimes.

Uh, she loves it.

She she adores me for that.

Um, but needless to say, when I discovered pourover coffee, when when my perspective of coffee was changed, I was introduced to pourovers.

Um, it changed everything, if I like.

Um, not only changed it, but I passionately shared my obsession or begin to share my obsession over coffee with the people around me.

That's why I've spent five minutes telling you about it this morning because I believe in pourover coffee for real.

Um, if you don't, if you've never had one, go to coffee camper or somewhere, order a pour over, um, and then after you drink it, you're gonna be looking up how to make them for yourself.

And I can answer all your questions.

So please come talk to me.

I love talking about it.

Um, but we've all had significant moments in life on a real note where where something has happened, we've made some sort of new discovery, um, or or come to the realization of something new.

And it seemed like everything changed.

Our entire perspective of something changed.

This could be something that made our life easier, um, something that was incredibly impactful on us, a new stage or a new chapter in life.

That but but these things happened, and because they happened, we couldn't help but share them with other people.

We couldn't help but try to work them into every single conversation we can without looking silly.

And this is where our new series comes in called When Jesus Met.

Um so over the next few weeks, we're gonna be looking at stories of real people in scripture and in history that have encounters with Jesus.

More importantly, we're gonna be looking at how their entire life changed as a result of it.

Their entire life as a result of meeting Jesus was now different.

Not only did their life change, but the change they experienced was so life-altering that they couldn't help but tell others about it.

They couldn't help but try to work in Jesus into every conversation they were having.

Um so before we get into our scripture this morning, our big idea, um, Russ kind of alluded to it, is that we are saved to be sent.

We are saved to be sent.

Um, so this week we're gonna be looking at when Jesus met and healed a demon-possessed man.

Um, some of y'all might know this story.

Um, it's in Mark 5, but in in in short and sweet before we read it, so you have an idea of what is going on and what happens.

Um, this this demon-possessed man had been possessed by this demon all of his life, or not all of his life, but for so many years he meets Jesus.

Jesus heals the man.

The man wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus sends him out because saved people are sent.

All right, with that being said, that little synopsis, here we go.

Mark 5, verses 1 through 5.

Mark 5:1–5

Uh we're going to read through this whole story, but start with these verses.

It says, They came to the other side of the sea, talking about Jesus and his disciples, to the country of the Garrisons.

And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain.

For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart and he broke the shackles in pieces.

No one had the strength to subdue him.

Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

So in these verses, we meet the demon-possessed man.

He's one of the main characters in this story.

We meet the demon-possessed man.

Looking at these verses, um, this story is also uh told in Matthew and Luke, so there's a few details in those that aren't in this story.

But looking at all three of these counts, here's a few things that we need to know about this man that Jesus encounters.

This man had been possessed for a long time, so long, that it had simply become his identity.

He had become known as the demon-possessed man.

Um, some of y'all may have heard him as the demoniac or the demonized man, but in reality, his identity had become he was the demon-possessed man.

He was essentially living life like a wild animal.

He was living a subhuman life.

Luke tells us that this man had no clothes.

He was just running around in the tombs, living a subhuman life.

Since he had no home, he lived among the dead in the tombs.

This passage tells us that he had supernatural strength.

Anyone who tried to bind him with chains and shackles, he would immediately break them.

This man was tormented and self-destructive.

He was crying out day and night, cutting himself with stones.

Needless to say, this man, this demon-possessed man, had an uncontrollable behavior.

Well, we can be sure that it did not start out this way.

Um he was not born into this.

However, the demons that possessed this man slowly became his very identity, slowly began taking over every aspect of his life day by day.

They slowly took over his life so that he was casted out of the city into the tombs and literally became known as the demon-possessed man.

So let's see what happens when this man meets Jesus.

Verses six through thirteen says, And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.

And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me.

For he was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.

And Jesus asked him, What is your name?

And he replied, My name is Legion, for we are many.

And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

And now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, Send us to the pigs, let us enter them.

So he gave them permission.

And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

When I when I I feel like every time I read this, it's it gets stranger and stranger every time.

It's just a weird, it's a weird encounter.

It's a weird event that happens, but it's so powerful.

As I got the chance to study this passage in the story, the it's so powerful.

It's unbelievable.

This possessed man sees Jesus from afar and runs to him and falls at his feet.

Immediately he begins crying out with a loud voice, What have you to do with me?

Jesus, son of the most high God, I adjure you by God, do not torment me.

And we can kind of put together from the rest of the conversation that it's not the man who is saying this, but the demons within the man that is saying this.

The demons that have taken over this man's life, have taken over his identity, are crying out, Jesus, son of the most high God, what do you have to do with me?

What do you have to do with me?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me.

So we see when the demon-possessed man meets Jesus, the demons within him, the demons, the evil spirits within him, immediately understand who they just, who they just met.

They immediately understand whose presence they're in.

The demons that have tormented this man for years and years know immediately that Jesus, Son of the Most High God, is in their presence.

This is a great example of what James means in James 2.19 when he says, You believe that God is one, you do well.

In other words, if you believe God is real and he's one, and you believe that he, you know, maybe even created everything and that there is a God, you do well.

Good for you.

But even the demons believe and shudder.

That's what James says.

Even the demons, the evilest spirits on this earth, believe and shudder at the name of God.

The demons believe and know the power and authority that Jesus, the Son of God, holds.

So as Jesus continued demanding this legion of demons to leave this possessed man, the demons began to beg that he send them into a herd of pigs nearby.

And it says, Finally, Jesus gives them permission.

Jesus gives them permission.

It's such a powerful verse that though the demons have overtaken this possessed man, changed his entire identity, overtaken his entire life, to the point where he was cast out from his city, cast out from his home.

He lived in tombs for years and years, crying out day and night, cutting himself with stones.

These demons that have overpowered this man in the most extreme way, they can only operate at the permission of Jesus, Son of the Most High God.

This passage shows us that Jesus is ruler of all, even the demons.

Even the demons will even shudder.

Jesus is ruler of all, even the demons.

So Jesus ultimately grants the demons permission to depart from this man, go into a herd of pigs, about 2,000 pigs who eventually rust off a cliff and drown in the sea.

Again, what a strange and powerful scene.

But at the end of the day, when the demon-possessed man met Jesus, son of the most high God, everything changed.

At that moment in time, when he met Jesus, encountered Jesus, son of the most high God, everything changed.

Mark 5, 14 through 17, it goes on to say, the herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country, and the people came to see what it was that had happened.

And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion, in case you were getting confused on who it is, this is the same man, sitting there clothed in his right mind, and they were afraid.

And those who had seen it described it to them, what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs, and they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

So the herdsmen are watching all this unfold in history.

You know, like the movie scenes where like something crazy happens and there's someone in the background, and it kind of like slowly pants to them, and they're just like, I feel like this that's the herdsman in this scene.

They're just like on the, they're out doing their job, and they see all this take place, and they're like, What just happened?

So they run off into the city, they tell everyone what happened, and naturally the people in the city who know this demon-possessed man so well, they have to come out to see it to believe it.

They ran out expecting to see the demon-possessed man, but instead they found a man that met Jesus.

The identity that this man attained over the past year as the demon-possessed man was now changed.

Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, had healed him.

He had freed him.

But rather than rejoicing, rather than rejoicing, the people that came out to see this, they were filled with great fear.

Um, there's a bunch of different reasons why we could we could say this.

Um, one, if this guy was the strongest guy in their city, no one could contain him, then whoever freed him has to be more powerful and stronger than him, correct?

So they're probably thinking, well, this dude is way more powerful, way stronger than any of us.

So they they begin to ask Jesus to depart.

Another reason could be um he sends these demons into 2,000 pigs.

The 2,000 pigs run off the cliff and die.

Um, you gotta think in their time, those 2,000 pigs were extremely valuable, extremely pricey.

They were they held so much economic value, and Jesus had just sent them off, or Jesus was responsible for the fact that they were sent off the cliff.

I believe there's some messages about idolatry and where they were finding their trust and hope.

Um but regardless, these people came out, they were filled with great fear, and they began to beg Jesus to depart from them.

So Jesus honored their request and he begins to leave.

So Mark 5, 18 through 19 says, as he was getting into the boat talking about Jesus, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.

And he did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

Again, what an interesting interaction.

This man, he's been healed.

He's been freed from these demons.

His identity has been changed, he has been given a new life, and rightfully so, as a result of that, he wants to go with Jesus.

He wants to be with Jesus, he wants to follow Jesus.

And all throughout scripture, we see Jesus saying to certain people, follow me, follow me, follow me.

That's how he calls his disciples.

He walks up to him and says, Follow me.

But now this man wants to follow Jesus.

He wants to go with Jesus, and it says, Jesus did not permit him to do that.

And you might think, well, Jesus, that's that's kind of rude.

Um you might think Jesus is blaming favorites, that he doesn't want anything to do with this guy because he used to be crazy.

Um, but we must see why Jesus did not permit this newly changed, newly identified man to be with him.

Um, because there's a logical reason.

God has a reason for everything.

Jesus knew, that's why I believe, Jesus knew no one in the city was going to accept his message.

Jesus knew that if he did not leave, and if he walked in that city, he knew no one was going to accept his message.

He knew whatever he had to say, it was going to fall on deaf ears, on hardened hearts, and nothing would happen.

After all, they were begging for him to leave.

Jesus knew the only way the whole city would come to know him or even be willing to hear his message was if this man who had experienced the power and mercy of Jesus was the one to share the message with everybody in the city.

So rather than Jesus allowing this man to go with him, he empowers him and sends him out to do his ministry.

He empowers them and sends him out to do the work of his ministry.

In 19, he says, Go home to your friends, tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

Again, this demon-possessed man was saved.

He was saved and then he was sent.

Back to our big idea.

We are saved to be sent.

This man had been healed, redeemed, freed from these demonic spirits that had possessed them, and then he was sent out to be a message of light, a message of truth to his community.

So you may ask, where and what are we sent to?

If we are saved to be sent, where and what are we sent to?

And there are two things I want to point out in verse 19 that Jesus commands this guy to do.

First, we need to notice what Jesus commands this man to do.

Jesus sends him to go and tell his story.

He says, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

He sends him to go and tell his story.

He doesn't command him to go and teach the entire Bible front to back.

He doesn't command him to go into the temple and argue with the Pharisees and answer all these difficult questions that to be honest, no one even knows the answer to.

He commands him to go and tell others about what happened when he met Jesus.

When this man, this individual man, met Jesus.

He says, Go and tell people what happened.

Go and tell people all that I've done for you.

Go and tell people the mercy that I have shown you.

He just wants a man to go and tell his personal story, and we call that a testimony.

That's all Jesus was desiring.

Go and tell your testimony.

Go tell people what I've done in your life.

Second, we need to notice where Jesus commands this man to go.

Jesus sends him to his home.

He didn't command him to go to the mall and start trying to convert strangers.

He didn't send him to the street corner and say, hold up one of these signs, condemn everyone for their sins, shout out them with this loud blowhorn thing, and uh, you know, tell them that they need to repent and turn to Jesus.

He sends him to his home.

He says, start with those at home.

Start with the people closest to you.

That's what Jesus sends him to.

So when Jesus commands this man to go home, y'all got to stick with me for this part, alright?

Jesus commands this man to go home.

And the word home in the Greek here is oikos.

Oikos, everybody say that?

Oikos?

It's kind of a cool word.

Um this word literally means house.

So when we translate it into English, our culture, um, it means house or household or family.

Um, but in the Mediterranean world, um, the original environment for writing scripture, this word was actually translated to mean network or spheres of influence.

Um, in other words, your oikos are the places where you are present on a regular or consistent basis.

That was what this what Jesus was sending this man to.

Um, so through a lot of commentary, um, there are four main spheres of influence that I learned about, okay?

There's four main areas of oikos in our lives.

The first one is biological, so our families and our friends.

That's an area of sphere of influence.

Um, vocational, that's our job.

So our job is a is a sphere of influence.

It's an oikos because we are there regularly.

Um, volational, that's our hobbies.

Um, maybe somewhere where we volunteer, maybe the people you serve with on Sunday morning.

Um, and then the last one is geographical, that's your traffic patterns, um, your neighborhoods, the favorite restaurant that you go to, the Waffle House waiter that you know by name.

You know, everybody's got a Waffle House waiter that they know by name.

Um so when Jesus told this man to go home or go to his oikos, he was telling him to go to his family, to go to his friends, to go to his job, to take the message of Jesus to his hobbies, the places where he was volunteering his time.

He was saying, go to the farmer that you buy food from, the potter you buy your pottery from.

He, his direct spheres of influence, his areas of life where he was a regular and consistent body.

That's where Jesus commanded him to go.

And he says, Tell them about what I have done for you.

This is the mission that Jesus gives to all those who have met him.

We are saved to be sent.

And one thing I would love for us all to leave here today, remembering, maybe even telling ourselves throughout the week, is this.

This is all we got to do.

Start with my story and start with the people closest to me.

Start with my story and start with the people closest to me.

Jesus has called us to go to our oikos.

He has called us to share all that he has done for us and the mercy is the mercy he has shown us to the people that are closest to us, the people we interact with on a daily or a weekly or maybe even a monthly basis.

Jesus has called us to go to our spheres of influence and tell all that he has done for us.

He has called us to go to our families, maybe even our closest friends that we would consider family and share all that he has done for us.

He's called us to go to our jobs and share all that he has done for us.

He's called us to go to our hobbies, the place we volunteer our time and share what he has done for us.

He calls us to meet our neighbors, get in touch and build relationships with our neighbors and even our favorite waitress or waiter at our favorite restaurant and share all that he has done for us.

When we think about sharing our faith, we often think um we need to have this detailed script of the gospel.

We need to have at least 10 scripture verses to be able to rattle off on point.

Um we we definitely have to know the answer to every question they could ever possibly ask us, or else how could we share the gospel?

Um we think we have to have all these things.

And then we think about that we got to go talk about it with random strangers that we've never even said a word to, or that that when we go on vacation, um we we got to share it with people that are that are sitting beside us on the beach or or whatever it is, or we got to go out to the mall or or the street corner and yell out all these crazy things.

Um however, I think Jesus is trying to tell us that we got to start with our story and start with the people closest to us.

Start with our story, what he has done personally in our lives, and start with the people who we interact with on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

There are gonna be times where you will be called to share the gospel with a stranger.

There will be times if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit will lead you to share the gospel with a stranger.

That is not what Jesus is not saying that won't happen.

There will be times where you may be filled to go on a mission trip to a third world country where you know no one or nothing about the area and share the good news of Jesus.

That may be something that happens in your life and you have to obey and honor those callings.

However, we have all been given an everyday calling to share about how much Jesus has done for us with the people that are closest to us.

The mission Jesus gave the demon-possessed man and the mission he gives us is very simple.

It's simple.

It's a simple thing to tell someone else what Jesus has done in your personal life.

You don't have to know questions.

You don't have to know the answer to questions.

You really don't even necessarily have to know a ton of scripture.

You just got to be able to tell someone what Jesus Christ has done in your life.

I can guarantee you, this demon-possessed man, he was a Gentile, probably knew nothing about the Bible.

But what he did know is what Jesus had done in his life.

He knew what happened when he met Jesus, and that's the message he began to share with the people closest to him.

So this message, the mission that Jesus gives us, is simple.

It's simple, but it's life-changing.

It's life-changing.

Mark 5.20, it says the man went away and began to proclaim it in the decapitus how much Jesus had done for him.

And it says everyone marveled.

That's all it took was for him to tell them what Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

That's all it took.

He started with his story, started with the people closest to him, and everyone marveled.

The formerly demon-possessed man who was an outcast returned home, he returned healed, returned free, and began to tell people what this man named Jesus had done for him and the mercy he had shown him.

And as a result of this simple act, everyone marveled.

So that's kind of where the story ends in Mark 5, but I don't think that's where the story actually ends.

So Mark 5.20, can we pop that verse up there?

Mark 5.20, this man went away to proclaim in the what?

Where did he go?

The decapitalis.

Right there.

You see it right in the middle?

He went away and began to proclaim in the decapolis.

So that's where he runs off to, begins telling his story.

Everyone marvels.

The story ends.

Two chapters later, and Jesus leaves.

He departs, respects her requests, and leaves.

And two chapters later, in Mark 7, we see what we can only guess is the impact of this man's ministry.

We see what we can only guess is the impact of the demon-possessed man's ministry.

As this once demon-possessed man simply talked about what happened when he met Jesus.

I believe an entire city had a change of heart towards hearing the message of Jesus.

So this is two chapters later in Mark 7, verse 31, it says, Then he returned, talking about Jesus and his disciples from the region of Tyre and went through Sedan to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the capolis.

Mark 7:31

So Jesus is returning to the place that they were begging him to leave.

He's coming back.

I can imagine some of his disciples being like, Jesus, do you remember what happened here two chapters ago?

They were begging for us to leave, and you know, we're kind of heading back that direction.

That's exactly what Jesus is doing.

He's returning and heading to the region of the Decapolis, where the demon-possessed man left to.

So in chapter 5, when Jesus sends the demon-possessed man to go home, to go to his oikos, this is where the man goes, to the region of the Decapolis.

Now, two chapters later, Jesus is returning to the same region.

He is returning to the same place where people were begging him to leave.

However, they were met with a crowd that was much different than the crowd they left.

This is verse 32 in Mark 7.

It says, And they brought to him, brought to Jesus, a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

So it might not seem like much, but the greeting that Jesus received in this moment was so much different than the farewell that he got when he was leaving.

When Jesus left, they were begging for him to go.

When he came back, they were flocking to see Jesus, bringing him the sick, begging him to heal them.

He left them begging him to leave, and he came back, and they were flocking to see him.

It says that they brought to Jesus.

They were seeking Jesus out to bring healing to this man who is sick.

So in this passage, Jesus goes on to heal the deaf man.

And then it says in verses 36 and 37, after he had healed this man, so he healed the demon-possessed man and was cast off, begged to leave.

This is what happened when he healed this man.

It says, Jesus charged them to tell no one, but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well.

He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.

Once again, notice the contrast from just a few chapters earlier.

The same people who were pushing Jesus away out of fear were now zealously singing his praises.

The same people who were begging Jesus to leave were now begging Jesus to keep working.

While they were astonished beyond measure at what he had already done.

So the question is the question we got asked is what changed between Jesus' departure from when he was forced to leave and his second arrival when he was coming back to the region?

What changed?

He was pushed away the first time when he left, but he was received with open arms, willingly, people zealously singing his praises.

What changed?

The Bible doesn't directly give us the answer, but I believe this is why cities and regions and things like that are included in Scripture, because I believe God wants us to work and dissect scripture and piece these things together.

So the Bible doesn't directly give us the answer, but I would bet my bottom dollar that it all started with the demon-possessed man who met Jesus.

This man who met Jesus.

His identity was possessed by this demon his entire life.

He meets Jesus, he's redeemed, he's healed, he's freed from his bondage, and then he's sent.

He begins to tell people what Jesus did for him, what happened when he met Jesus.

He didn't care about anybody else or what they were going through.

He says, I want to tell you about what happened when I met Jesus.

And he started with the people closest to him.

Jesus returns to this region, and now an entire city has changed.

By the time that Jesus returned, an entire city was ready to meet him, ready to hear his message, and have the same life-changing encounter as what the used-to-be demon-possessed man had.

So I believe that one man was the start of an entire region opening up, opening up to meet Jesus.

Their hearts being softened, their eyes being open to meet Jesus.

How did he do it?

How did he have such an incredible impact on this region that he lived in?

Simply put, he met Jesus and his life visibly changed.

He met Jesus and his life changed.

And he began to tell everyone what Jesus had done for him, and he started with the people that were closest to him.

As he began to share all that Jesus had done for him, the people he trafficked with, just the people he walked beside and did life with, they couldn't help but be attracted to him and the message he was talking about.

So sure enough, when Jesus came back, they weren't going to miss their chance.

They were flocking to see him, bringing him the sick, zealously singing his praises.

No way they were going to pass up a second chance to meet Jesus.

So one thing I think we can take away from the story about this man, one thing I think ultimately we'll probably take away from every story we talk about is that meeting Jesus, meeting Jesus personally, face to face, a real encounter with Jesus always leads to change.

It always leads to change.

There's no way, shape or form that when this man met Jesus and was healed, he could have gone back home and went about his business.

There's no way.

Because he had met Jesus, a real encounter with Jesus, Son of the Most High God.

When we meet Jesus and come to actually know him, like Nathan talked about last week, not just a head knowledge, but just this heart knowledge, this heart belief to personally know Jesus, visible change in our lives will always follow.

It will always follow.

It doesn't happen before we meet Jesus.

We don't have to change before we come to Jesus.

But when we meet Jesus and we are freed and healed and set free, then something is going to change.

There will be visible change to follow.

When we encounter the Son of God, when we experience his irresistible grace, when our eyes are open to the never-ending steadfast love he has for us, visible change in our lives will always follow.

There's a verse that I've had memorized for a couple years.

It's one of my favorite verses, and I think it explains what happened in this man's life so well.

What happens in our life when we meet Jesus, this is the change that happens.

This is 2 Corinthians 5, 14 through 15.

It says, either way, Christ's love controls us.

Christ's love controls us.

Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.

We've died to who we used to be.

We have died to the demon-possessed lifestyle.

Christ died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.

Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

Jesus died for us.

He loved us so that when we encounter him, when we believe in him, when we place our our trust and our faith in him and upon him for salvation, believing that he is enough to take away our sins, believing he is enough to heal us and free us, we no longer live for ourselves, but we live for Christ.

We live for the man who laid his life down for us.

We have no other choice but to live for the one who has died and raised for us.

That is exactly what happened to the demon-possessed man.

He was controlled by evil spirits of this world, and then he met Jesus.

He experienced the grace, the mercy, the freedom that is in Christ, the love of Jesus.

And once he met Jesus, the love of Christ began to control him.

It controlled him.

He no longer lived for himself.

He put his personal agenda aside and he began to devote his life to the mission that Jesus gave him: to go home and tell your friends and your family all that I've done for you and the mercy that I've shown you.

He lived his life for Christ.

So the end of the story again, I believe this one man, this one demon-possessed man who probably knew nothing about the Bible was a result of an entire city, an entire city coming around to opening up to the message of Christ.

I believe this one man was responsible for that.

So then I think imagine what would happen.

I have it written down in this room of 100, 200 people.

Imagine what would happen, even if this room, this room, we might not even be 100 people.

We're definitely not 200 people, but if one man can change and begin to soften the hearts of an entire city, what if we did that?

What if we left, went to our spheres of influence, our oikos, our families, our jobs, our hobbies, um, our favorite restaurant, and we began to tell people what Jesus has done for us.

We began to tell people what happened when we met Jesus, encountered the Son of the Most High God, and our life changed, what would happen?

What impact could we have for the kingdom of heaven?

When we meet Jesus, everything changes so much so that we can't help.

We can't help but tell others about it.

Man, I love pour-overs.

I truly do, and I will work it in any conversation I can.

But man, there's nothing like there's nothing like Jesus.

Nothing like Jesus.

The best part about being a Christian is Jesus.

The best part about knowing Jesus is Jesus.

There's nothing like it.

And when we experience that, we can't help but tell others about it.

We can't help but devote our the rest of our lives to the ministry of Jesus.

So two response questions.

Um First one is this first off, have you met Jesus?

Are you still allowing worldly and evil things to control your identity?

Have you believed in Jesus for salvation and allowed him to change your identity?

Um, as I was studying this passage, this scripture, um, even this morning was just kind of reading over it, and the thought just popped in, man, we are not.

We read this passage and we think this man is crazy, but we are not too different from a demon-possessed man.

We're not too different, especially before we met Christ.

I know I was not too different from this man right here.

We all have something.

We all have evil desires that try every single day to take over every aspect of our life until it becomes our identity.

The goal of Satan is to get you as far away from God as possible so that your identity is found in anything and everything except God.

That's Satan's goal.

So we are not too far from this demon-possessed man.

He seemed crazy, he was naked, running around like a wild man, but we are not too far from that.

We really aren't.

So have you met Jesus?

Have you experienced the life, the freedom, the um the joy that's found in Christ?

Do you have a story to tell people?

I used to be this, but then I met Jesus.

For me, I used to seek the approval of others, but now I met Jesus.

And I I live for the glory of God and God alone, knowing that I'm known and loved unconditionally by a Father who is in heaven, who is above all else.

Live trying to satisfy my things or satisfy my life with the things of this world, and now just, man, just go to sleep with a smile on my face, knowing that I know Jesus, knowing that I have salvation.

Have you met Jesus?

If you have met Jesus, then your response is how can you share about all that Jesus has done for you within your oikos, your spheres of influence?

Some of you may feel called to go across the world, and I love that.

I've never personally felt that calling.

I want to.

Um, some of y'all have felt called to that, but for the rest of us, God has called us to share what he has done for us right here, right now with the people closest to us.

So, how can you share about all that Jesus has done for you within your oikos, within your spheres of influence?

How can you go home to your family and share constantly what Jesus has done for you?

How can you go to your job and share with your boss that might be rude and mean all that Jesus has done for you and shown him the mercy that you have been shown?

How can you go to your hobbies and talk about on the golf course all that Jesus has done for you?

Um, how can you uh what was the last one?

Y'all help me out.

Geographical, how can you go to your neighbors?

How can you go to your neighborhood, your favorite restaurant?

How can you tell your favorite waitress that you might know by name all that Jesus has done for you?

If you've met Jesus, how can you share about what he's done?

And how can you share it with the people that are closest to you?

Again, we are saved to be sent.

We've got to start with our story and start with the people closest to us.

Um, Abigail's gonna close us out in a response song.

Um she wrote this song of me.

We heard it last night for the first time.

Um, but as she sings this, you're not gonna know the words because you've never heard it.

Um they're gonna be up on the screen, but I want to challenge you.

This song is about it's about Jesus, it's about the real Jesus, what an encounter, a real encounter with Jesus looks like.

So as she sings this, reflect have you met Jesus?

And if so, how can you take this message that you're so eager to share to the people that are closest to you?

Let's pray.

Father, thank you.

Um thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for the opportunity, the privilege to meet Jesus, Son of the Most High God.

Father, as we close this time in worship and prayer and reflection, I pray that you would just reveal yourself to us in new ways.

Even remind us of old ways that you've revealed ourselves to us, but but open our eyes to Jesus.

Father, if there's anyone in this room that has never met Jesus, open their eyes to Jesus.

I pray that your word that they have heard would just pierce their heart, soften it, and open their eyes to the person of Jesus.

They would believe in him for salvation, for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and live their entire lives for him as a result of it.

Pray for us that that do know Jesus, that have been given this incredible message of salvation, but again, given this incredible testimony, that you would speak to us through your spirit, guide us through your spirit, to the people you want us to share it with.

Provide opportunities, even for the for the door to be flung wide open, for us to share what Jesus has done in our lives with the people close to us.

Father, speak to us, fill us with your spirit, um, just make the truth known to us.

We love you.

Pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.