Unrestrained | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

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Before you take your seats, I want to do a couple of things.

One, um, our middle and high school students, you guys are dismissed at this time.

We have an amazing experience for our middle and high schoolers that takes place during our 1030 service.

We have great leaders that'll be meeting you at the back doors, and parents, you can get your children at the end of today's um service.

Um I would love for us to join me in the Gospel of Mark, chapter number five.

Um, if you have your Bibles, you can um certainly meet me there.

If you don't, it's perfectly okay.

It'll come up on the screens in just a moment.

Um, if you do have your Bibles, specifically one of the digital variety, and you want to read along, um, I'm gonna be reading this from the ESV translation.

Um, but I want to read this as our teaching text for today as we continue in our free indeed series.

Looking at the Gospel of Mark, chapter number five, the text says this to us, starting at verse number one.

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Garasines.

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 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 rinsed 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, cutting himself with the stones.

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?

He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many.

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

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

So he gave them permission, and when the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, the herd, numbering around two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

The herdsmen fled and told it to the city and to the country, and people came to see what it was that had happened.

And when they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion sitting there clothed in his right mind, and they were afraid.

And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs, and they began to beg Jesus to depart from the region as he was getting into the boat.

The man who had been possessed with the demons begged him that he might be with him.

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

Verse number 20.

And he went away, and he began to proclaim in the capitalist how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Examining what it looks like to be unchained but somehow still restrained.

This man was dealing with significant affliction and trauma and cycles with minimal support.

And yet Jesus met this man there and brought him to a place of freedom and purpose.

And I think that there's some identifiers that some of us can relate to as we spend our time unpacking this today.

My thought for today is really simple.

And the title is simply this unrestrained.

Let's pray and let's see what it is that God wants to speak to us today.

Lord, we thank you so much for your presence.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you that there is another in the fire, that we do not have to bear these burdens and struggles on our own.

God, I just ask that as a community, as we gather together, your word reminds us that when we are gathered, that you are in the midst of us right here.

So, Holy Spirit, we ask that you begin to stir our hearts and stir our minds.

We invite you into this space.

We decrease and ask for you to increase.

We ask for you to inspire us.

We ask that you inspect us, and we ask that you challenge us so that we can take a step closer into fulfilling our God-given purpose.

So give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

As you're taking your seats, turn to someone next to you and say, Unrestrained.

Unrestrained.

Turn to the person that you ignored and that you didn't want to talk to and say to them, unrestrained.

Come on, come on.

Um few years back, um, I was doing a great deal of traveling, like traveling maybe two or three times a week.

It was it was pretty exhaustive, but it was it was very meaningful.

Um, but for me, whenever something is predictable and repeatable, I turn it into a system so it doesn't have to be complicated.

That's just the way I work.

I'm like, okay, this is something I do every week, um, and I know that I do it every week, so let me create a system so I can be successful in what I'm doing to minimize any stress.

So because I was traveling every week from Orlando to DC and then DC back to Orlando, I created a system, and my system was very complex.

I knew which days to fly out on, I knew when I was going to be flying back in, I knew the time of the flights that I was gonna be taking.

It was very routine and very rhythmatic.

I knew I had it down to a point where I even knew how long it would take for me to leave my house, get to the garage, and walk through the terminal, through TSA pre-check, of course, um, make it to the front gate without me having to wait.

So I had a very strong system that worked really, really well for me.

And so I remember this one time I was making my typical trip up to DC, but this particular time it was an overnight trip.

Ordinarily, I would take like the five or six o'clock in the morning flight, I would do my business in DC, and then I would fly back, typically around three or four o'clock, was kind of like the rhythm.

But occasionally I needed to spend the night over while I was there.

And this is one of those cases.

I had an evening meeting um and it couldn't be moved, so I couldn't get back on the same day.

Because if you haven't learned this about my personality, I'm gonna put this out there.

The answer is I always want to be home.

Like, I could be staying at a five-star resort.

I got like two days in me, and I'm like, you know what?

I could probably just do this at home.

Like, I would always rather be home.

But in this particular instance, I needed to spend the night um in DC.

And so while we're there, um, the meeting that evening, one of the people that were gonna be participants in that meeting, their kids got sick um and they couldn't join the meeting, so we weren't gonna have the meeting.

And I was like, praise the Lord.

And I'm like, well, not that the kid is sick, but I can actually go home early now.

So I found a flight that would allow me to leave the same day.

Now I had to pick a different airline because the availability for my typical one wasn't there, but I was gonna be home that night.

So I got back and I was gonna arrive around 10:30, 11 o'clock, but it was perfectly okay.

I remember getting off the plane, and again, I'm a very routine person.

I park at the same spot, I know exactly where I'm going.

It's almost autopilot.

I get off the plane, I get my carry-on bag, and then there's a space when I get to the terminal that I'm going to my car, there's a space that I get to that I know I'm within range of my vehicle, so I can hit the key fob, it will unlock my car.

I hit it again, the trunk is rising up, and as the trunk reaches its apex, I'm picking my bag up, putting it inside of the trunk, I'm hitting the button to close my trunk, and I'm in my vehicle in one singular motion.

I'm a little bit OCD if you haven't figured that out as of yet.

So here I am walking outside into the garage, and I'm walking up, and I'm at that point where I hit the button.

Every week I do the same thing.

I'm always parked in the exact same spot, the same aisle, the same row, within the range of typically the same four or five parking spots.

A couple of times someone was parked in my spot.

I left a note on our window, not a big deal, but hey, this is my spot.

So if you could do yourself a favor and me a favor, don't park here again.

So that's that's how territorial I was.

So I'm walking, I hit the key fob, and nothing.

Now I'm thinking to myself, maybe, maybe the that there's interference in the air, there's a room for that.

So as I continue to walk, I hit the button again, and still nothing.

So then I'm beginning to think through, okay, what like why isn't my why isn't my little teacher, why is it not going off?

Like, why is my car not unlocking?

And then I'm like, well, maybe, maybe, maybe my my key fob battery died.

But again, again, my my brain's like, no, you just changed your key fob battery last week.

That's not the issue.

I'm like, yeah, you're right, I did.

I'm talking to myself at this point.

So I'm walking up, I'm hitting the button again.

Still, still nothing.

I'm walking closer and closer, and I'm looking at the key fob, I'm hitting the button, I'm getting closer and closer, and still there's no response.

I walk all the way up to slot number 13, which is where I know I parked at, and as I hit the button and I look over, that's not my car.

So now as I'm standing there, the blood begins to drain out of my body because I know where I park at.

I don't make mistakes like this, I know where I park at.

It's a system, it's a machine, I don't make mistakes.

So I'm standing there thinking to myself, this isn't my car, but I'm still hitting the remote button.

Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe it's uh maybe it's the next slot over.

So here I am standing in a spot that I always know that I park at, in the spot that I know that I park my car at, and now I'm standing at a standstill.

So I begin to kind of just pace the same aisle.

Didn't leave one, I'm just walking up and down, hoping that, hey, we serve a God of miracles.

Maybe my car will materialize in one of these spots, and it'll be something that I preach about.

But I'm walking back and forth five minutes, turn to 15, 15 minutes, turn to 45 minutes.

I know where I'm at with every ounce of my being, I know where I'm at, and I'm hitting the button, nothing is there, and I'm beginning to feel this sense of panic.

My mind begins to rush through a series of things, such as I have to call insurance, I have to call Megan, I gotta figure out all these things, and my mind is processing all of this, and I'm like, man, like I don't think I've ever had my car stolen.

Like, what would what do I do with that?

And if they find it, do I want it back?

Like, like I'm going through all of these things in like one second.

And then I look off into the distance and I see the security guard doing his normal patrol.

Truth of the matter is, people probably saw me walking through the park a lot, muttering to myself, and they probably went and got him, but he didn't want to approach too quickly to turn this into a crazy situation.

So he's off in the distance, and I see him.

And I'm like, oh, like I gotta I gotta wave this guy down.

So I'm jumping up and down, I'm waving him down, and then he comes up ever so gently.

He says, Hey sir, can can I help you?

I'm like, Yes, yes, you can.

Let me let me catch my breath.

Um he's like, Okay, sir, just just calm down.

Side note, whenever someone is hyperventilating, telling them to calm down doesn't help.

Let me get back to the story.

He's like, okay, just calm down.

Tell me, tell me what's going on.

I'm like, hey man, listen, I I do this trip every single week.

Same day, same flight.

It's the same thing.

I park in the same spot.

I never not do it.

I know you probably deal with some people who don't know where they're parking at, um, but that's not me.

I know what I'm doing.

I know my car has been stolen.

He's like, oh, okay.

When did you fly out?

I'm like, man, I flew out this morning.

My flight left at 5 45.

I got here about 5.18.

He's like, okay.

He's like, and and and when did you get back?

I'm like, I just got back.

He's like, okay, which airline do you fly it on?

I told him.

And he's like, oh, okay.

He said, hey, hop in the car, let's go for a ride.

So for me, I'm thinking he's gonna take me to like the airport security inner sanctum, where I'm gonna see the behind the scenes of like all the airport security things.

He's gonna call his friends, they're gonna put a stop on everything.

I'm thinking we're gonna look at the footage so that we can identify who stole my car.

We're gonna hop in the car, I'm gonna do a ride-along, we're gonna hunt this guy down, and we're gonna see what happens.

Like, this is all happening in my mind.

So, as I'm thinking through what am I gonna do when I confront this guy that stole my car, we come to a stop and he says, Is that your car?

And I look out the window, and there's my car.

Have you ever felt excited and also embarrassed at the same time?

I was excited that my car was there, but I also was like, Are you a magician?

Like, what what what just happened?

He says, Sir, this happens all the time.

He said, When you flew out, you flew out on an airline that flies out of terminal B.

But because you switched your flight, you flew back in to a flight that flies into terminal A.

You were in the wrong garage.

So here I was the entire time, knowing where I was supposed to be, but I was in the wrong garage.

And I was trapped in this endless loop over and over again, feeling this sense of despair and loss, until this man showed up to deliver me to the place I was supposed to be.

I I think for some of us, those feelings of lostness, those feelings of being overwhelmed, those feelings of anxiety, those feelings of a lack of clarity, those feelings of hopelessness can be a very real reality, and we're feeling as if we're just walking in this endless loop and nothing seems to be changing.

I'm I'm seeing the same things over and over again, but I'm not seeing what I believe God wants me to see.

But I believe the good news is that we have a messenger who was sent from the throne room of heaven to say to you, I see where you are.

You've been in the wrong garage, but I'm here to deliver you to the place that I've called you to be.

You've been walking in this cycle for long enough, but there's somewhere else that I've called you to be.

Let's hop in and let's go for a ride.

The thing that's so powerful about this text that we just read is the things that took place leading us up to it.

The Bible tells us that Jesus has just got finished performing incredible ministry in the Gospel of Mark, chapter number four.

And we get down to verse number 35 where he says to his disciples, let us go to the other side.

We're not done yet.

It's getting dark.

And ordinarily that's when you kind of set up camp, you get comfortable, and then you start the day.

But Jesus says, No, I know that we've just got finished doing a lot of ministry, but there's still more work for us to do.

Let us get a let's get a boat and let us go to the other side.

The disciples, they gathered a boat, they they pack up their resources, they get inside of the boat and they brush off to go to the other side.

But while they're on this journey, the scriptures tell us that a storm seemed to appear out of nowhere.

A violent storm, a storm that made them feel as if they weren't going to survive it.

What we need to understand within the Jewish mindset is that waters were always viewed as unpredictable and chaotic.

So now they've been launched into this unpredictable, chaotic environment, and they feel like they're not going to survive it, and they're looking to see where Jesus is, and Jesus is in the back taking a nap.

Out.

It makes me wonder: have you ever been in a space where God has told you to launch out into something, and there seems to be storms that appear out of nowhere, and to make matters worse, it seems like Jesus is nowhere to be found.

God, you're the one who told me to step into this space.

You're the one who told me to have these dreams.

You're the one who put these desires on my heart.

And the moment that I stepped into them, I feel like there's storms all around that seem to come out of nowhere, and it looks as if you're asleep at the wheel.

Jesus wakes up after they come to him and they say, Lord, don't you care that we're about to perish?

And he gets up and he does something so profound.

Almost as a parent would talk to a child, he he stood on the bow of the ship and he says to the storm, Peace, be still.

With this authority that only God could have, that he can control the winds and the waves.

Peace be still.

Just settle down.

And the storm responded to his voice.

He then turns to his disciples and he says, How do you still have such little faith?

Up to this point, they've seen Jesus do some pretty significant things.

But watching miracles is not something new in Scripture.

We see this in the Old Testament.

We see this even with some of the Pharisees that were able to perform certain impactful things.

But something that has always been designated exclusively to God is to control nature.

So they have just seen Jesus calm a storm, and he says, How do you still have such little faith?

What was he referring to?

Was he referring to their their lack of academic or theological undergirding to recognize who he was?

No.

He was talking about the reality that when Jesus spoke to them and said, Let us go to the other side, that they were going to make it on the other side.

There have been some among us that we know that Jesus has called us to go to the other side.

And then when storms come, we lose sight of the fact that if Jesus says we're going to the other side, it doesn't matter what storm comes our way, we're going to make it to the other side.

There may be some things in your life that God has confounded you to do, but if he says we're going to make it on the other side, there's no storm, there's no devil in hell that can keep you from getting to the place that God has called you to be.

But let's talk about this other side for a moment.

Because this other side was literally the other side of the island, the other side of the tract.

Metaphorically speaking, this was Gentile territory.

This was people who were not Jewish.

They didn't follow Jewish customs and Jewish laws.

So these were not people who were in fellowship with God as we understand it.

That's the first check on why the religious people shouldn't have been going there.

The other thing that we know is happening in this community is that when you arrived there, they were arriving where there was a graveyard there.

Another thing that the Jews were taught to avoid, the dead things of the world.

And so that's check number two on why the religious people should not have been going to this other side.

Check number three, it's also a place where they herded pigs.

Well, if you read Leviticus, you understood that the Jewish people were told to avoid swine.

And so we see three check marks on why religion tells you to avoid it, but it seems as if Jesus goes exactly to the place that he tells that other people are taught to avoid.

I'm so grateful that we serve a God who will leave the 99 to go after the one.

This other side of town was the other side of the track.

This is where poverty ran rampant.

If we were to contextualize it in our reality, this is where the strip club is.

This is where the psychic reading spots take place.

This is where when we get to the red lights and we see people out there who are who are disheveled and we don't want to give them eye contact because we don't want them coming up to our car.

He's literally saying, when religion goes the opposite direction, the kingdom goes into the chaos.

The beautiful thing about God's heart for those who are broken and those who are lost.

I'm always confounded when I go to these varying church planting missional meetings, and as powerful and powerful as they are, because we're taught that whenever you want to reach people for the things of God, planting a church is the most effective way to do it.

So we go off into these communities.

But what I often find myself challenged by is when we talk strategy, they always say, and make sure you go and plant your church in a community that is financially thriving.

Make sure you plant yourself in a community that can support the work of the ministry.

And listen to me, I have a business degree, I understand that.

But when I read the Bible, the Bible says that Jesus went into the environments that no one wanted to go into.

So my heart for our church is God, send us the ones that nobody else wants.

Send us the ones that people don't want to give eye contact to, because I believe there's an anointing and a grace to reach those that others don't want to have interaction with.

Jesus goes to the very environment that we often try to avoid, those who are struggling with addiction, those who are struggling with all types of burdens, and Jesus says, This is the space that I want to have a revival break forth.

When he gets there, something significant happens.

And I believe that this is not just meant to be a description for us, but I also think it can be a prescription on how we need to function when we're talking about what does it mean to truly be free indeed.

I have three simple thoughts I want to share, and then we're gonna go back into some time of worship and experiencing what God has for us.

But but the first thing I want you to write down is this come to the Redeemer.

If we're really talking about being free indeed, it requires us to come to the Redeemer.

The man's condition has been clearly spoken.

It says that he lived among the tombs, he had no pure identity, that no one could bind him.

That means that his community had tried to help him, they even tried to control him, but no one could support him.

So that's a failure of community.

So he has a struggle with identity, he identifies with dead things, he doesn't have the proper community around him.

The Bible talks about that he would break the chains, that means he had superhuman torment that was happening on the inside of him, and scripture also says that he would wound himself.

This is self-destructive patterns.

When we put this all together, in Mark's gospel, he's painting a picture of a man who is living in death.

An environment that's not producing life, an environment that seems to be chaotic, an environment that doesn't seem to be any hope, an environment where he's identifying with dead things.

Some of us know what it feels like to recognize that I'm in an environment that doesn't seem like it's producing life.

I'm in a relationship that doesn't seem Be produced in life.

I'm stuck in this cycle and there doesn't seem to be hope or any breakthrough.

But the Bible also says that when the man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran up to him and threw himself at his feet.

That even though he had all of these demonic strongholds on the inside of him, that when he saw Jesus from a distance, there was something inside of him that says that this is my opportunity to have an encounter with the living God.

When we look at the true language that is spoken about the posture of the man, it's easy for us to look at the English rendering and think that he just threw himself at his feet in a posture of, Lord, have mercy on me.

But the actual original Greek word is the word that we use for worship.

That means that even though this man was filled with demonic strongholds, there was still something on the inside of him that when he saw Jesus, he felt compounded to go and worship him.

There's something to be said that even if I don't have the vocabulary, even if I haven't done the devotionals every day, even if I don't make it to church every week, that when I am in the presence of the king, there's something that can happen when I choose to go and worship my risen Savior.

Worship has the ability of breaking chains.

Worship has the ability of breaking off pride.

Worship has the ability of giving me a vision of my life that God truly has for me.

What we truly believe is that when he saw Jesus from a distance, that he wasn't just talking about he saw when Jesus came to shore.

Many scholars believe that he was standing on the mountaintop in this demonic, infested environment, still chains dripping off of his wrist in the area of tombs.

But he saw in the distance as Jesus and his disciples pushed off the shore and were heading his direction.

There's something on the inside of him that began to recognize that Jesus was coming.

But he also would have likely witnessed this storm that came out of nowhere, this chaos that seemed as if it would have consumed the disciples, but he also saw this sweet, precious man get up and control the winds and the waves and declare for them to be peace, be still.

There's something on the inside of this man that said, There's a storm raging on the inside of me.

There's an area of my life that I feel as if I'm stuck in, but I recognize that if he can say, peace be still to that storm, then maybe he can speak to the storm that is going on on the inside of me.

Maybe he can speak to the storm that is happening in my mind.

Maybe he can speak to the storm that's happening in my family.

So when Jesus shows up at shore, he couldn't help but to go and throw his feet to himself at the feet of Jesus.

There's something to be said about when we can push past all of our hesitation and get into the presence of God.

He recognized who Jesus was.

He threw himself at the Redeemer.

The text tells us that the community around him was not able to help him.

That means that he had outlets.

That means that there were friends that came and tried to help him.

There were people that came and tried to control him.

They put systems in order to help him to grow forward.

But I've learned that systems don't break chains, the blood of Jesus does.

Jesus is leading us to a place where grace is the only qualifier in order for us to experience our breakthrough.

And this man came and put himself in the position of his redeemer and he experienced something significant.

The second thing that I think is worth noting is not only did he put himself in the environment of his redeemer, but he also experienced something powerful, and that is simply calling it out.

Sometimes we just got to call it out.

What's so powerful in this moment is that the Bible tells us that as this man came to the feet of Jesus in a posture of worship, that it only took a split second for the demonic influences in his life to begin to speak.

The man came to worship, but the demons began to speak over his worship.

Jesus is on the shores and he's worshiping at the foot of Jesus, and these demonic spirits begin to speak on his behalf.

Sometimes when we're reading the text, it's hard for us to understand who's speaking and when.

But the man came to worship, the demons came to have a conversation.

Don't be surprised that when you really decide to posture yourself to begin to worship Jesus, that every area of darkness in your life begins to speak up.

Don't be surprised that when you make your mind up to start reading God's word, that there's areas of vulnerability that somehow make that a challenge.

Don't be surprised that when you make up in your mind that you're going to start posturing yourself to be generous, that you start having these things that happen in your finances.

These are not circumstantial.

This is demonic strongholds trying to keep you from experiencing the true freedom that God wants you to have.

But there's something significant that happens because they find themselves in this what we call liminal space, this transitional space where it's not, I'm not in the miracle space yet, but I'm no longer where I used to be.

They're standing at the shores where the water and the land meet.

And for some of us, that may be a part of our reality.

But the beautiful thing, it's in that liminal space that powerful things begin to happen.

The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1 that there was chaos and darkness was upon the face of the depths of the water.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

But then the Spirit of God began to hover and he called land out of that chaotic water.

We also see in Exodus 14 that as the children of Israel were let out of Egypt, that they found themselves at the edge of the Red Sea.

They were no longer where they used to be, but they weren't where they needed to be, and there seemed to be this barrier of water, this liminal space.

But it's in that space that the Bible says, stand still and see the salvation of God, and they were able to cross over on dry ground.

The Bible tells us in Joshua chapter 3, same scenario, the children of Israel were ready to go into the promised land, the space where water, the Jordan, was a barrier between them and their breakthrough.

Joshua 3 · chapter mention

But stand still and see the salvation of God and they crossed over on dry ground.

I'm telling you this because some of us are in that liminal space right now.

We're no longer where we used to be, but we haven't made it to the promised land as of yet.

But be of good courage, be in knowing that God does incredible work in these liminal spaces, and he can call light out of darkness, he can call hope out of despair, he can bring peace into chaos in those liminal spaces.

So it's in this space, it's in this space that we see that the demonic spirits began to speak because they didn't want this man to experience his breakthrough.

It's also worth noting that these demons they knew who Jesus was.

They recognized his authority, they recognized his influence, they recognized his power, they recognized that they didn't have dominion anymore.

What are we to do with you, Jesus?

Don't torment us before our time.

They saw who Jesus was and they trembled at his name.

This is why the Bible is constantly trying to affirm us on who we are in Christ Jesus.

Jesus says these words when he's resurrected, all power has been given unto me, and now I am commissioning you to go in my authority.

The same power that raised Christ from the dead now lives inside of us.

That resurrection power, they call it the Christ in us.

So this is why the Bible can say, Greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world.

That means that Jesus is on the inside of us.

That also means when we go into environments of darkness, it begins to stir up every demon in hell.

When you step into dark environments, it will stir up the chaos in your life.

When you step into chaotic environments, it will certainly make some people feel uncomfortable.

When you come in shining the light of Christ in your workspace, you're gonna certainly put a target on your back.

But if God has called you to it, he's absolutely gonna lead you through it.

The enemy recognizes the God in you, which is why he's putting up such a big fight.

But he is giving you all authority, he's giving you all dominion.

The Bible says that the demons begin to speak, that Jesus poses a question that turns this courtyard into a courtroom.

What is your name?

This is a powerful exchange that's taken place because ultimately in Jewish exorcism thought, the idea was once you got the name of the demon, you were now able to call it out.

So when Jesus is asking his name, he's not trying to gather information, but he's bringing us to a place of revelation that when we can identify that thing and call it out by name, it loses its power and influence over our lives.

Sometimes we keep our struggles too vague.

We keep it so anonymous, we keep it in the shadows, and we're not able to be specific.

He says legion because we are many.

There's a lot of things going on on the inside of him.

In fact, what many believe is that a legion was basically between 4,000 and 6,000 Roman soldiers.

Whether they were speaking hyperbole or literally, what is easy to recognize is that this man had a lot of issues.

It wasn't one thing, it wasn't two things, it was a lot of things going on on the inside of him.

And if you notice, Jesus didn't flinch.

Jesus wasn't concerned because no matter what the opposition is, Jesus is never outnumbered.

You push Jesus is not a fair fight.

No matter what the challenges are, no matter what the obstacles are, no matter how overwhelming it may seem, that as long as you have Christ on the inside of you, it's not a fair fight.

The Bible begins to tell us that when he says, What is your name, he is calling out the darkness and bringing it into light.

In the therapeutic space, we call that labeling.

When we are able to put a name to the struggle, it allows us to apply truth and make it a different reality.

So whether it's sin, whether it's our feelings, whether it's our struggles, when we name it, it amputates its exaggeration.

Precise vocabulary dismantles vague terror.

So what is the thing that you are specifically struggling with?

Often when we are overwhelmed with anxiety, it's because we're rushed with a range of emotions and thoughts and feelings that we haven't been able to add specific language to.

And so we begin to feel overwhelmed.

So we need to find ourselves in a safe space where we can begin to identify exactly what it is.

Sometimes it's fear, sometimes it's provision, sometimes it's rejection.

But the moment that we can get past the emotional chaos and begin to call it out specifically, it allows ourselves to calm down and we can apply God's truth to it.

This is why confession, which is a lost art in the modern church, but is such a powerful practice that we are supposed to operate in.

This is why groups are so important.

This is why going to therapy is so important, because it allows us to put a name to the things that we may be struggling with.

The Bible tells us in 1 John 1 9, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us.

Not just forgive, but literally wipe it away.

Confession is not God discovering, it's darknesses uncovering.

When we're able to name our chains, they lose their dominion over our life.

When we can say, hey, I have anger issues, we could begin to put some life on it.

When we say that I struggle with envy, we can put some life on it.

That when we say I'm struggling with pride, we can put some life in it and allow it to be exposed to the truth of God's word.

Unnamed giants keep breeding.

Exposed giants start bleeding.

God is bringing us to a space where chaos thrives and anonymity, but Jesus heals specifically.

What is it that you need me to do?

Was a common statement that Jesus would make.

What do you want me to do?

How do you want me to touch this situation?

Lord, I want to receive my sight.

And then Jesus would move in that area.

When we call a name to the chain, heaven stamps an eviction notice.

And so Jesus says, Go.

He cast the demonic spirits out of this man.

He says, for it to go.

But I want you to recognize the significance of him saying go and it being cast into a herd of swine.

The swine was literally the ecosystem of that environment.

It was how they made ends meet.

It was a financial structure that allowed the people there to thrive.

But Jesus cast it into the financial ecosystem and then it went and it killed itself.

Why would Jesus allow that?

The reason why he did that is because I think he wants us to see is that freedom will always cost us something.

That whenever we're struggling with something, that whenever we have a burden, whenever we have a stronghold, that freedom is going to require something of us that sometimes makes us feel uncomfortable.

If your struggle is pornography, it's going to cost you something to really get free.

It's going to require you to cancel subscriptions, minimize your phone uses, have an accountability partner, it's going to cost you something.

If you're struggling with greed, it's going to require you to step into a space where you downsize your budget.

Nothing breaks greed more than generosity that helps you to recognize the world is not just about you and your personal status.

If your current struggle is alcohol or substance abuse, it means that it's going to cost you some enabling friends and some environments that you can't go into and then connecting with a space where you can talk about your struggles and what may have led to them.

Maybe your struggle is people pleasing, which then is going to cost you setting up some boundaries and disappointing some people and learning how to practice.

No.

Maybe your struggle is unforgiveness and it's going to require you to release the debt, to have some conversation so that offense doesn't take root in your heart.

Maybe your struggle is dealing with something in your marriage, and so now you need to go to counseling so you can invite other people in to help you to experience the freedom that God has for you.

The main barrier that keeps us from experiencing freedom is our pride.

Our inability to invite others into it to help us to experience the freedom that God has for us.

But when we bring it to Jesus, we're bringing it out of darkness and bringing it to light so that the chains can be broken off of us.

The third and final thing I want to say is this.

Now it's time to tell your story.

It's time to tell your story.

This newborn disciple who is on fire for God at this point, his first reaction was, Jesus, I want to follow you.

I want to serve you in your mission as you go to these varying locations.

But Jesus says, I don't want you to leave.

Deliverance should always thrust us outward.

But Jesus says, I need you to tell the people what God has done for you.

I want you to recognize what happened in the passage of Scripture.

It says that when the man got his breakthrough, chains are broken off of him.

You would imagine that there would have been a massive celebration, but again, because of the economic dip that they have just taken, they literally said to Jesus, Bro, just go.

We don't want you here.

Like you're causing too much chaos here.

We we need you to leave.

So Jesus then tells that man, I need you to stay here and evangelize this area to prepare them for a revival.

When you read in the Gospel of Mark chapter 7, I don't have time to go there, but I want you to reference it.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

Mark 7, verses 31 through 37.

Mark 7:31–37

Jesus leaves, but he comes back on Mark chapter number 7.

And instead of him being rushed to leave, when he comes back to the very same environment that they wanted him to leave from, they brought people who were struggling and bound.

They brought a man who was born deaf, and Jesus healed him, and then they wanted Jesus to stay, and a revival broke out.

How was there such a difference between get out of here versus stay here?

Because one man stayed and told his story.

It literally changed the atmosphere that allowed them to want to receive what God had done for him, knowing that it's possible also for me.

When freedom reaches your heart, it should also activate your voice.

We should be carriers of the gospel everywhere we go.

Not just quoting scriptures, but the life that we live at work, the way that we conduct ourselves, functioning with excellence, the same way that Daniel did when he was in Babylon.

So often we think that we're unable to thrive as people of God because the environments we find ourselves in are toxic.

Read the book of Daniel.

Read the book of Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar.

An incredible, godless environment, not just a job, an entire godless country that had fallen apart.

Daniel didn't feel it was his responsibility to change the entire world, but what he did say is that where I am, I'm going to function with a degree of excellence.

And everywhere he went, from the way that he served, people who were godless recognized the God in him.

Maybe the revival that's needed at your job in your family is not you preaching the gospel and saying the Bible says this and it says that, but maybe it's a calling for us to live the gospel, to show kindness, to be generous, to pray, to serve, and that's what ultimately brings transformation.

The Bible says that the man was seated in his right mind and he was fully clothed, no longer exposed, no longer bound, but now a missionary for the kingdom.

The Bible actually says that he was sitting at Jesus' feet in a state of peace, shalom.

Nothing lost, nothing stolen, everything restored.

I think back to the moment when I saw that my car was there and I got into it.

I sat there for a moment, and as I began to try to calm down, I felt a sense of peace.

It may seem superficial, it may seem insignificant, but when I thought something was lost or stolen that had been restored to me, I just needed a person to bring me to where I needed to be.

I was overwhelmed with peace and joy and freedom that was available.

Now I still had to pay to get out of the parking lot because freedom's not free.

Um, but I was no longer bound.

I believed that that peace that surpasses all understanding is available to every single one of us.

Whether we're in liminal space, whether we've got our breakthrough, whether we're waiting for our breakthrough, but peace is available because God's desire for us is to live a life that's unrestrained.

Nothing lost, nothing stolen, but all things restored.

This man came and threw himself at the Redeemer, called out the issue, and became a missionary that changed the world.

I believe that God wants to activate some of us today.

So, what we want to do is we want to take our notes from this man, and maybe there's a movement God wants us to make.

He threw himself at the feet of the Redeemer, he worshiped.

So, in just a moment, we're gonna go back into a song of worship.

This altar is gonna be open.

And maybe your traditions are unfamiliar with what the altar is, but the altar simply means it's the meeting space with God.

We see it all throughout scripture that that people will come and meet with God at the altar because God alters it, but he also alters us.

This altar is open for us, and maybe you just want to come and worship your Redeemer.

But there's also that powerful space of where the strongholds were called out, the burdens were called out, the struggles were called out.

So maybe you're here and you're saying, Man, there's some things that I want to have prayer for specifically in my life.

I want prayer in my marriage, I want prayer over my finances, I want prayer over some of my emotional struggles, I want prayer over some of my trauma.

We're gonna have our prayer team that's also gonna be standing up here that would love to intercede and simply pray with you.

You just need to come up and say, Hey, can you can you pray with me?

So I I want to ask all of our prayer partners to come up right here.

I want you all to kind of flank me to the to my left and my right.

Come on up here so that they can see if you have any burden or anything that you want someone to pray with you on.

Come on up.

Ok, V, can you come over to this side just a little bit?

Because I want to leave this middle part open for people who just want to come in and kneel.

Prayer team, can y'all wave at the people to let them know that y'all are harmless?

Y'all are loving people who've walked with God for decades.

But if you want to come up and pray, talk with one of these wonderful people and they would love to pray with you.

If you want to come and kneel at the altar, this altar is open and available for you.

But what I don't want us to do is to recognize that our Redeemer is in the environment, that chains can be broken, and we don't make a movement in order for us to experience freedom.

The Bible reminds us that when we draw near to God, He draws near to us.

There's this beautiful relationship that as we draw closer to Jesus, he meets us where we are, and chains are broken.

Let's stand on our feet.

I want to lead us into a moment of prayer as we go into worship, and as God stirs your heart, I want to invite you to come down and get along with God or have someone intercede with you.

But if you know that God is calling you to take a step, don't let anything keep you from the breakthrough that I believe God has for you.

Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for the truth that we can engage in your word.

And Father, we just pray in the name of Jesus that we can all live a life that is unrestrained, a life that we are not bound, but we're walking in freedom and in wholeness.

So as we engage you in worship with our hands lifted up, as we engage you in worship with singing these songs, I pray that we can also engage your presence by maybe coming and getting along with our Redeemer.

We'll pray over you.

But maybe we need someone to pray with us as we come and connect with our prayer partners.

But Father, whatever our next step is, give us the boldness to take it so that you can meet us there and we can experience the freedom and we can leave here clothed and in our right mind.

In Jesus' name.

Let's worship her.

Thank you for joining us.

To learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting, follow us on social media using the handle at Celebration ORL or visit our website, celebrationorl.