Mt. Carmel Church | an opportunity for you to get connected
What’s up everybody online? Welcome to the rose. Great to have you with us today. My Name’s Chad, my wife dawn and are the pastors here and so we’re excited about hanging out with you today. It’s always a privilege to be in church with you, so thanks you. Mt. Carmel Church Thank you so much for coming and tuning in online. A ruin our series called your story more than a post, so if you want to get your bibles out, your sermon notes out, you can get out of your worship guide or you can get on youversion Bible App, have the sermon notes available to you there. Let’s open them up to luke chapter four.
Luke chapter eight. Today is connect day, so it’s an opportunity for you to get connected into church, live with our connect groups and get involved in what’s happening here. So we just encourage you to find a group that you plug into and you can build relationships with. Connect groups are so important because it’s not only about what they have to offer you, but it’s also what you have to offer them. Sometimes it’s a great. It’s a great place to tell your story and it’s also a great place to be encouraged by someone else’s story, their life story. I mean, those that are life is more than a single post. It’s more than one event or circumstance. It’s, it’s, Mt. Carmel Church, all this coming together. And sometimes your story will mean more to someone else than something I could tell them. So I just encourage you to jump in there and plug in and be a part of the connect groups.
We want to build relationships. I’ve found this, that some people, the difference in a person feeling connected into a church is their level of involvement in the church. There’s some people that’s only been here a few months and man, they are all in there. They’ve got a group and they’ve got a team and they’re meeting people. They’re connecting more than some people that’s been here for a few years and they’re not involved. They’re not connected. So it’s just getting in there, jump in. You have something to offer. So just we’re excited about this semester and, and want to see a kickoff in a great way. So we’re going to talk about your story and I just wonder this, have any of you ever had someone try to write your story for you? Somebody has ever tried to identify you based on something you’ve done. You know, Mt. Carmel Church, we’ve all got things that in our life we’ve all got issues that we’re dealing with.
We’ve all got struggles. If you’re watching this or setting here and you say, I don’t have any issues, we’ll that is your issue that you think you don’t have any issues. So we all, we all have them. We all have issues and some of them we don’t see clearly for herself. Maybe you recognize this as sometimes you have a clear vision of other people’s issues than you do have your own. Yeah, we can move on from that, but that’s a real facts. Sometimes we can see the faults and others clearer than we can see the faults in our own. Mt. Carmel Church we’ve all got. We’ve all got issues. We all got problems. We’ve got things that are going on our live, but sometimes. Have you ever felt like your issues were beginning to define who you are? You maybe the things that you’ve done, something you’ve done has gotten so big that it’s become a part of you.
Maybe it started out as just a hang up. It started out as just a struggle, but now it’s grown. It’s, it’s gotten bigger and now it’s consumed you. You start out with just a little bit of discouraging thoughts that you were dealing with. Now it’s trying to grow into full grown depression and trying to steal and zapped the life right out of you. Sometimes we can allow something starts small and it grows big or maybe something you’ve done a mistake. You made something you’ve done in your past and and now it becomes something a label on us. Like it’s identifying who you are. Sometimes we got to walk away from those things. Let me give you an example. When I was in seventh grade, go back to junior high, was in the seventh grade. Mt. Carmel Church Me and my buddies, we’re in in math class and we had this idea, you know, I could go into a lot of detail about what was going on in my life that time, but it was, it wasn’t the best time of my life and I was real good at math, you know, that was part I didn’t struggle with math, but I also had good friends and some of my good friends didn’t do so well in math and so they come up with this great plan because my teacher trusted us that, okay, hand your paper to your neighbor and we’ll grade each other’s.
See why you laughing. Some of you got the same issues that we had. So now Mt. Carmel Church. So what our system was, we said, hey, if we don’t have the right answer, then you just fix it, you know, maybe we’ll even leave some blank and you write it in. For us. We were seventh grade, you know, we didn’t have it all together, so we thought it was awesome. Plan, this will be great. We didn’t think about handwriting being different or anything like that, but the biggest thing we didn’t think about is that some of my friends that I love so much used to getting not a days, all the sudden they’re knocking out the park and getting the hundreds. We didn’t think to let them miss a couple here and there. No, we want them all get a. we’re all getting hundreds from here on out.
We thought is the best plan ever and then my teacher, I’ll spare her name because she may be watching. Mt. Carmel Church She calls, she knows who she is. She called us out. We had to go out in the hallway and I got in trouble for cheating. So in that moment I was a cheater because I cheated, but I had an. I had an option. I had a decision to make. Am I going to let what I did be who I am? Am I always going to be a cheater? Is a true. I cheated. Yes, I cheated, but does that mean I have to always be a cheat? Her know, see something we have done doesn’t have to define who we are. So whether yours is cheating on math or whether yours is something else that you’re dealing with in life, something we’ve done does not have to become who we are. Your story is not. It doesn’t end in the seventh grade. Praise the Lord.
But this what we have to move on from. So figuring out, hey, here’s what I’ve done, but I’m not going to let what I’ve done become who I am. So the bottles full of all kinds of great stories. Last week we talked about Rehab. How many enjoy the story of Rehab? Last week when that all, somehow God just took rayhab and turned her around from Harlem to hero. Just love me some rayhab. What an awesome woman of God. Well, today we’re going to tackle another awesome story. We’re going to tackle the story of the guy named Legion love. This story of Leech and Luke Chapter Eight. Hopefully we can get it from a little different perspective. Mt. Carmel Church This morning I’m going to start reading in verse 26. Are you ready? Verse Twenty Six says, then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite of Galilee. And when he had stepped out, talking about Jesus, stepped out on the land there, met him, a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time and he wore no clothes, nor did live in a house, but in the tombs.
And when he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with you Jesus, son of the Most High God I beg you, do not torment me, for he had commanded for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Wow. What an intro to this story. Here’s the backdrop of the story. Jesus, just prior to this was with his disciples and they were having this awesome service. People were getting healed. He was ministering to people. It was phenomenal. Mt. Carmel Church then all the sudden out of the blue, Jesus turns to the disciples and says, Hey, let’s get in the boat and go to the other side.
They’re like, Jesus, it’s, it’s going pretty good here. Shouldn’t we kind of just hang out here? And here’s the problem. Sometimes when God’s doing something good in our life, we have trouble moving forward and allowing him to do something new in our life. See, it doesn’t have to be anything wrong with where we are for Jesus to want to take us somewhere else. Billy west nuts. It’s free. That’s extra. So now he just says, out of the blue, we’re going to go somewhere. So we’re going to cross the sea. And this is the story. Maybe you’ve heard this story, maybe you have it as they’re crossing the sea. It’s about an eight mile trip from one side to the other. Mt. Carmel Church along the trip, I mean eight miles in a boat. This isn’t a speedboat, this is long before that. So it’s gonna. Take a while to get across there.
Jesus got a little sleepy, you know the up and down, up and down, kind of rocked him to sleep. So he’s crashed out on the boat and then all of a sudden a storm comes up and I’m not talking about it. Started raining. I’m talking about storm. That makes fishermen scared you gotta know the difference. There’s a storm that makes a normal person in both scared and they’re storing that makes fishermen scared. So this was like a huge hurricane type store. They wake up, Jesus say, Hey, don’t you care about us? We’re about to die. We’re gonna. So Jesus wipes the sleep out of his eyes. Peace be still waters calm is that story. This is what was happening. They come to the other side, Mt. Carmel Church so how many nodes? There’s sometimes when you’re going to do something significant, maybe there might be a storm along the way that you have to go through.
Sometimes he said, we’re going to the other side. I’ve got a mission from God and sometimes there might be something. Try to interrupt your progress from doing what God wants you to do. We got to be willing to go through the storms and sometimes yell at it and say, peace be still, I’m going to do what God asks me to do. So that’s the backdrop for where they are. So he steps foot on the other side and look what happens as soon as he steps foot on the land. And Verse Twenty seven there met him a certain man. Everybody say searching man. Certain man, a certain man. It’s a certain man. Mt. Carmel Church It says from the City the translation, that could be a certain man of the city. This is the man. I want to get to know who is this man? What is his story?
What’s his story? You know, you look at people sometimes that, hey, what’s your story? Well, I wonder what this man, he’s a certain man. He’s a specific man from the city or of the city. So He’s, he comes into contact with this guy and he realizes that, you know, when you read them, how it goes on and he’s demon possessed and the spirits seasoned him. He’s running around naked, all this. But this man was from the city. So what’s his backdrop? The Bible doesn’t tell us about it, but I want to know where did he come from? He came from the city. Maybe he was born and raised in the city. Maybe he was educated. Maybe he ran his own business in the city. Maybe he was a well respected man in the city at one point. I don’t know what his story was, but I know where he is is not the whole story from the city.
And he wore no clothes. He’s running around naked. That’s something you just can’t pass over when you’re reading the Bible. Not a lot of times you find people that run around naked. But this guy right here, war no clothes, nor did he live in a house, but in the tomb. So here. So you got this naked guy and he’s running around the tombs. Now, when I say the tombs, the good Gadeerah, the city, uh, that they were talking about right here, that it was surrounded by cliffs. It’s the southeast partial portion of the Sea of Galilee and, uh, surrounded by cliffs. And they would dig out of these lines, the limestone. They would dig out these big tubes with different openings and places that they were buried people. And so this guy lived among the tombs. He didn’t live in a house, he needed shelter from bad weather, from heat, whatever. So he lived in these tombs. So here’s a naked guy running around the cemetery. Reminds me of one of my greatest fears in life. So again, rewind back to junior high, our school was about, I thought it was forever, you know, your perspective changes as you get older, but our school was a half mile from my house and after games, you know, Mt. Carmel Church for whatever reason my dad was busy or something like that, but I just remember like after practice, after games, he said, hey, it’s not that far. You can walk home. I’m like, Dad, that’s a long way and it’s dark.
I know you can walk.
So me and my dad had this great relationship that you told me what to do and then I had to do it. So that’s kind of how things work. So there’s not a lot of negotiation. I’m going to pop up now you can walk. So I remember it, but the problem was our school’s right here and then caddy corner from our school was this big cemetery right on this block and I had to go that way to get to our house. So to walk home there was no way around without walking past the cemetery. I could walk through it if I wanted to really cut time off of things, Mt. Carmel Church but that wouldn’t happen late at night.
So I’m walking, I’m walking home and every time I walk home I can feel the hair on the back of my neck as I’m just trying to get past the cemetery. Mt. Carmel Church that would’ve been the worst thing for me to look over the cemetery and see a naked man running around in the cemetery. That might have freaked me out just to let you know what my world is like. So this is a story. These are, this is the picture, these are the image. So if you’re following this man on instagram right now, what are his posts like
for the naked selfies? I mean, what are, what is this guy taking posing on the sit on the tombstones? Maybe he’s taken videos, chasing people, trying to scare them. I don’t. I don’t know what his post that he might have a great following you because he’s trying to entertain, but as we laugh about that, the Lord just made me think about sometimes people use their issues as a mask to disguise hurt, so maybe while he’s laughing and recording videos and chasing people while he’s trying to scare them or or post shocking pictures of himself just to get people’s attention really on the inside. He’s trying to hide something that’s really bothering him. You know the people that are loudest at the parties, they laugh the most. Sometimes they make fun of them to sell themselves the most. Sometimes they’re really overlooking and trying to hide something that’s hurting them on the inside. Maybe that was his story because it says over in Mark’s version of the story that talks about that he was going around and cutting himself and hurting himself night and day in Burton. Mark Five, five says at night and day he was in the mountains in the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones. So here’s the guy’s story. He’s naked, running around, living in the tombs, and he’s cutting himself and crying out at night.
Ah,
it doesn’t sound like a guy who’s enjoying his life.
It doesn’t sound like a guy who’s living his best life. So who is this man? What’s his story? Let’s look at verse 28. So when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. In Mark’s version of says he fell down and worshiped him. He cried out and fell down before him and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with you Jesus, son of the Most High God I Beg you, do not tore me. Why did he fall down before him? Because verse 29 says, for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. So really 29 kind of comes before 28 in the context of the story. So when he met Jesus, they came into contact and Jesus said, hey, unclean spirit. Come out of him in my name. Mt. Carmel Church Now I don’t know what he said, but he just said, commanded the unclean spirit to come out of him.
So when he did that, then now the man comes back with this reply, says, what have I to do with you Jesus, son of the most high God. I find it interesting that he knew Jesus name. He already knew who Jesus was because I don’t think the intro went like this when Jesus walked up to the bed. Hi, I’m Jesus, son of the moment, tigard you might know me. I don’t think that’s what happened. I believe Jesus came up to him, said unclean spirit. Come out of him. In that moment, the unclean spirit knew who Jesus was. He knew who the man was. He fell down and begin to worship him. Jesus had a little bit of a reputation in the spirit realm. He fell down. Notice that he didn’t come threatening Jesus and try and scare him. Mt. Carmel Church Notice how Hollywood sometimes we’ll try and take the, the spiritual, and they’ll really blow it up like demonic is spooky, scary, strong.
They’ll try and make it entertaining. They’ll try and make it. They’ll try and make it exciting. These demonic people I saw. I’m not going to go there. So anyway, I saw something, so sometimes they’ll make it entertainment value, but in the real spirit world, there is no trying to scare Jesus. When they come in contact with Jesus, they say, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. What have you to do with me son of the most high God. That’s what happens when demons come into the power of God. You don’t need to be scared of what demons are going to do to you because demons are scared of what Jesus is going to do to them. We’re not afraid of that paranormal and that movie scene of law, demonic lab to fully on that demonic, bring me the name of Jesus and will command them to silence themselves as just a little bit of what happens here.
This is what they did. They said, well, what am I to do with you Jesus? I beg you. Do not torment me. Do not torment me. Do not torment me. Who’s who’s doing the tormenting. Hear the word torment means to torture, to inflict pain, agony or punishment. In Matthew’s version of this story, they said, do not have you come to torment us before the time. See, demons know there’s coming a time and you can read about this in your Bible. I’ve got a scripture give you there. Matthew Twenty five that said there’s a. there’s a place of eternal punishment prepared for Satan and his angels. They know there’s coming a place of torment in their future. They are prepared for. They were prepared for torture then they weren’t prepared for torture. Now, here’s what caught him off guard. Whoa, Jesus, son of the most high God. What are you doing here? Now I’m prepared that you’ve got something for us then why are you coming now? Maybe Jesus. Jesus is better than me. You know, [inaudible] demoniac comes in and falls before you said what about to do with you’d use on most hugger, you know, maybe you might be tempted to say, yeah, yeah. Who’s torment and who? Who’s your daddy? Come on say data. Call Me Dad. It tough as Jesus is so much better than me because Jesus said, Mt. Carmel Church, don’t get excited when the demons are subject to you, but rejoice when your name is written in heaven,
Jesus could have said, hey, wait, maybe you didn’t understand. Maybe maybe you didn’t read the Old Testament, maybe didn’t read that, but it prophesied over 300 times that I was coming and that’s why I’m here. I’m here to destroy the works of the devil. I crossed the sea. It’s your day. Get Out. This is what happens when the power of God comes in the presence of demonic activity. Jesus wins. Light trumps darkness. Darkness can’t stand it. So this is what happened. So he’s so he goes in, he tells him this. Look at verse 29, he commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Read that with me again. He commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the math. Notice the distinction between the unclean spirit and the man. There is a separation. Jesus didn’t rebuke the man Mt. Carmel Church. He commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
The demonic spirit was the problem. He’s rescuing the man. He’s not coming against the man. He’s rescuing and bringing freedom to the man. He’s celebrating the math. This one, when we got to be careful that we don’t label people in category with spiritual problems. The problem is not the person. The problem is the deception of the spirit behind the person. Well, Mt. Carmel Church they had to agree with it maybe, but you don’t know the story. You don’t know what led to that. I got to be careful sometimes because I see someone’s behavior and I want to think that that behavior is a is a, is an identifier in their life, but we need to understand that behavior is not an identifier. Behavior is a result of an identifier. Behavior is result of an inward identity. Usually what’s happening on a problem, when a behavior is a problem, the problem is an inward identity that’s causing that behavior.
Did I say that too fast, but I want you to understand that most of the time people that are acting out in a certain way, the problem is not just fix the problem, fix the behavior, fix the behavior of fixing me ever. No, no, no, no. We need to go back and change the identity of what they believe on the inside. If they will change what they believe on the inside, the change, the way they think. If they changed the way they think about a situation, they’ll change the way they talk. If they change the way they talk, they’ll change what they do and their behavior will change. There’s the progression, so this is what happened. So Mt. Carmel Church he says, he command the unclean spirit to out of the man for it it the spirit had often seized him and that word seized means to move or force off course to move or force course.
So is it seized him and was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon in the wilderness. Now here’s the naked guy that they had to chain him up, put him in chains and shackles, trying to control him, and every time they would put him in chains and shackles, he had the supernatural strength. He could literally break the chains and shackles. He couldn’t break them. They chained him up, supernatural strength. He’s able to break free. It reminded me this, that made me think, how many times in our life do we try and use trill strength to fix a problem in our life? How many times have you tried to quit something in your own natural abilities and it seized you and pushed you? Right? Off Course I’m on. I’m going to do it. Mt. Carmel Church I’m going to do it today.
At today’s the day I’m to quit that habit. I’m going to break that into today’s a day. I’m going to do it. I’m gonna. I’m gonna. I’m gonna. Forgive them. Today’s. Alright, I’m going to forgive you trying to willpower, willpower, willpower, willpower. Okay, I’m going to make it through. I’m going to do. I’m going to do it, and then all the sudden something happens and what you thought you were going to walk in freedom. It seizes you and pushes you back off course. This is what happens when we’re trying to do. I’m going to forgive that person. I’m on course to forgiveness. I love them. Okay? I forgive them and all of a sudden someone comes and tells you something. They said, what happened? It pushes you off course. I had great intentions this morning. Have never holding a grudge against them, to the against them after today, and then they did something else.
That’s it. That’s over. That’s what happened. It would seize him and push him off course. So now. Then he was. He break these chains. Nuisance says it also, he was driven by the demon into the wilderness driven. That even driven just means to shove or push again. He was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Here’s something I found true to my own life. Maybe you found it to be true in yours. Sin. It gives us the false perception of freedom and inclusion, but really if we will chase after or pursue after things that are not of God, it will lead to isolation and loneliness. The people who wanted their I thought were there for me and including me and I thought, okay, I’ll hang with these people when I really need them. In desperate times, they were nowhere to be found. Sister would drive him to isolation, drive him into the wilderness. So this Mt. Carmel Church. Let’s go to the next one. Look what Jesus said. Verse 30. So Jesus asking this question. He said, ah, what’s your name? Isn’t that a weird question? By Jesus, he commanded the demon to come out. The Demon says what I’ve to do with you, Jesus, son of the son of God most high. And so Jesus says, okay, what’s your name? I’ll play your game.
What’s your name? Legion. Legion.
Is that his real name is like, did your mama name you legion pretty. Where’d you get legion? I begin to think about that legion, like his real name.
The Mom said, oh, beautiful baby boy. Mt. Carmel Church What are your name? A legion. It’s a family name. Lead to. Where did it come from? Because the word legion is a Greek term for a group of soldiers that represented 6,000 Roman soldiers was allegion. So if this guy’s named legion, I don’t think it literally means that he had 6,000 demons on the inside of him because I think we do this in English all the time that we use words that don’t actually speak for an exact quantity of something, but we use it like how many ever used or heard this phrase use man? They put a ton of ketchup on those.
I did. They put 2000 pounds of ketchup on the French fries. No, they put two. Man, I’ve got a ton of homework tonight. Oh my gosh. It’s going to take me forever to thousand pounds of homework tonight. No, it’s just a phrase. So I think this guy had so many issues that somebody said he’s got like a legion of issues. He’s got like a legion of issues, man. I got. Well let’s just call him leads and you know how kids are coming up with nicknames. What is calling legion? That’s old leads over there. He’s got so many issues. He’s. He’s crazy. I started to label him based on his issue. So his issues became an identifier to him. His struggles, his problems came to be what he was known by us. Just legion. He’s crazy. You. Everybody started talking about he’s crazy. You don’t have. We got these phrases, you know, like he’s a, he’s a, he’s a little bit. He a half bubble off plum. That guy right there, he said sleep and he, he’s only got one or in a water, you know, he just keeps going round and round as and where my, my favorite. Mt. Carmel Church, he’s nuttier than a Porta potty of the peanut festival. That’s legion right there. Here’s his legion.
Some of you might take a while to catch that one, but she was forced to. But it’s what they’re talking about. Mt. Carmel Church, this was the crazy guy. This was that guy that everybody talked about this. This is legion. So I begin to ask God, I said, what was his real name? I begin to think about what is his real name? So I thought, what if his name was Larry Legion? Larry said, why did you come up with Larry Chet? Because it rhymes with legion or it has the same l. So I just thought, Larry, what if his name was Larry? What if his real name was Larry and somebody had called him legion because because legion is a monster, larry is a person,
so if everybody just
called him legion, they were concerned about the behavior and the outward side, but nobody cared about Larry the person. Here’s the question I want to throw out to us because maybe it’s legion Larry, maybe it’s legion. Lucy, can we see beyond Legion and get a glimpse of Larry? And you said, well, we don’t talk about that today, but what if we did that today? What if we. What if we had names like that today? Mt. Carmel Church What if it was a porno pete
temper, tall,
addicted, April, depressed Danny, bitter betty, lots for Lucy, fearful freddy or cutting carol divorce. Donna,
Mt. Carmel Church what are his shoes? Became who we are. We don’t literally call them that, but how many people have identified themselves by their issues and so this is who I am based what I’ve done. I’ve done this thing so that has become who I am. Your story is more than something you’ve done. There is hope through the blood of Jesus and this is what he’s talking about. He said, legion, because many demons had entered him. Many demons had entered him. How did they get here? This was Larry. Larry was a nice guy. What’s his story? He maybe you had a house. Maybe you had a business. Maybe you had is maybe you had a family, but somewhere along the lines, many demons entered him, entered him. What does that mean? To enter means to come in so I can even think about the internet. How did. How did many demons inter? Larry, how did Larry go from Larry to legion? How do you get a house full of flies?
You leave the door open.
You don’t put out a sign necessarily. Say, oh, flies. Welcome. Please come in looking for all flies in the neighborhood. Please come on in, please. Pretty please.
You don’t have to do that. All you gotta do is leave Mt. Carmel Church
door opener and they come in. How many times in our life we aren’t necessarily inviting the devil into our life, but we leave the door open
through a legitimate situation, legitimate, hurt, a little bit disappointment, something can happen to us and if we don’t handle that situation correctly, it can leave a gap and we think we’re just letting one thing and we just think we’re staying sad a little bit extra because we want to feel better, but if we don’t close that the right way, if we don’t mourn the right way, then we leave that cracked open and not only does the flies come in, the mosquitoes come in, spiders come in, snakes come in,
we’ll bring all manner that Larry just had. Maybe one thing that went wrong, but he left the door open and all of the sudden over time, all these others issue, all these other issues came in. You thought it was one thing you were struggling with, but you leave the door open and now one day you wake up and you go, how did I get here? Was Larry a week ago?
But now I’m legion. Everybody calls me leach. Nobody calls me Larry Anymore. I remember when they walked down the street, everybody used to look at me and honor me. Remember when I was welcomed in places of businesses I was whale. Welcome in the restaurants. Now I’m running around naked in these tombs, cutting myself screaming because I hate my life.
How did it happen?
We just looked at legion man. I just said, yeah, that’s crazy, Larry. That’s. That’s crazy legion. He’s out. That’s him. Yeah. We don’t know on the inside what happens. So he many demons had entered him. So they begged him. They begged Jesus that he would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now herd of swine, because he was backdrop. He’s the demons were begging Jesus not to command them to go into eternal lake of fire. That’s what the best would not teach and all that right now. But they were there were saying, Jesus, don’t let this be the final judgment. And it wasn’t time yet. So that’s the only reason they got off on this. And so they begged him to go into. Now a herd of swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged him that he would permit them to enter them and he permitted them.
Then the demons when out of the man entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. We’re sorry for the little pigs. We’re not going to talk about why that happened, but just just feel for them. Let’s take a moment of silence for all those who love pork right now in Jesus name. Bless him, God, verse Thirty Four. When those who fed them solve what had happened, they fled and told it in the city, in the country. Then they went out to see what had happened and they came to Jesus. Here we go and found. Who found? Who found a man? They found Larry. They found a man. They didn’t find the crazy man. They didn’t find the animal. They didn’t find legion. They found the man. The man was there all along. He was just covered up by a bunch of issues and Jesus was the only one who saw Larry Hidden Underneath Legion found the man sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind,
and they were afraid.
See, Larry had changed
Mt. Carmel Church and they didn’t know what to do with it.
Sometimes people can change and get ready. Not Everybody is going to celebrate your change. Never. Not Everybody’s going to be excited about you turning your life around. Not Everybody’s gonna throw you a party because you decided to go all out for Jesus. So be like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, okay. I understand going to church. I mean, that’s good people all to go to church. I mean, that’s, that’s the right thing to do, but let’s don’t get crazy. You all this Jesus freak stuff and be passionate for God and worshiping him and give him all your life and all that stuff. I mean, I understand wanting to go to heaven. We all want to go to heaven, but let’s don’t go too far. Sometimes our stories are more than who we’ve been. Sometimes God’s changed this into something we’ve never been. We’ve got a story of somebody right here in our own midst. We’ve been showing some video testimonies. Mt. Carmel Church I want to show you one today, an individual who took their journey from where they were to where they are. Now. Check out the screen to watch this video.
Hi, my name’s Jake was from Mrs. My Story. I’m an attorney in Evansville, Indiana. I was born and raised in a in a Catholic family and went to Catholic school mass six days a week. I had a very involved in church life as a child and a young boy that all took a terrible turn when I was a teenager. My father is also an attorney and the local priest that was the priest of my church testified against my father and my father basically said the priest had lied and that was the ending of my church life from the time I was born until I was a teenager. So for approximately 20 years I lived without church and that’s where the downward spiral started. I ran very, very hard. I played very, very hard and nowhere was God. My relationship with God at that point in my life had ended and I was lost for a long, long time.
About two years ago, I didn’t know what to do, had no idea where my life was going. My life was incredibly dark and I realized there had to be a change in. The more I realized that the more I realized that God hadn’t abandoned me, I was hiding from God and didn’t know how to get back into good graces and I fought with that for about 18 months and at the end of that fight I decided I couldn’t do it anymore and I have made a conscious choice to give my life to God. Since I’ve done that, I can’t tell you how miraculous the changes have been for the first time in a long, long time. I’m happy. I know God’s with me. He’s walking with me and I’m doing everything I can to walk with him. Where’s it gonna? Go from here. I have no idea, but I have the utmost faith that I’m going to walk right behind and follow the path. That’s been put in front of me. My relationship is getting stronger every day and I invite all of you to join me in that wall.
Awesome Mt. Carmel Church.
It’s just a glimpse in the story that maybe who jake was years ago. If you take a snapshot of his life and say, let’s take a picture here, who would he be? Would he be his behavior and say, well, that sued Jake. You know Jake, he’s always been that way. I’ll tell you what. I’ve known him his whole life. He’s been that way. He’ll always be that way. How many times have people said that about you? Maybe you’re watching you. Maybe you’re here and you say, I want to change my life. Not Everybody’s going to celebrate. Look what happens. This guy changed his life. He went from naked running around the tombs to clove in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus, and what did the people say? They were afraid. Look at verse 37. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Jesus to depart from them for they were seized with great fear, and he got into the boat and return seed with great fear.
They’re afraid. Now, if you read Matthew’s version of the story that these demoniac men were terrorizing people, they were fierce, dangerous. Nobody could pass through that way. They couldn’t even hardly bury people because they were so fierce and violent, and now they’re afraid. When he is clothed and in his right mind, Mt. Carmel Church it doesn’t make any sense.
Oh, does it?
How many times do we find in our life that we get so comfortable and familiar with what we know that were more afraid to change than we are afraid to stay the same?
They knew this guy. They knew legion. Okay, okay, you’re supposed to be crazy. You’re supposed to be running around naked. You’re supposed to be in change. We get that. That’s why it’s supposed to be, but now sitting here by the Jesus, clothed in your right mind. Mt. Carmel Church That’s wild. Don’t be surprised when you say, I’m changing my life and not everybody throws you a party, but don’t be afraid to change just because it’s something you’re unfamiliar with. Maybe you’re saying this, you’re like, Chad, I know I’m supposed to change these issues in my life. I know I’m not supposed to be living the way I’m living, but I don’t know what else to do. This is all I’ve ever known. What what? What will I do with my friends? What will I do with this person that I’m living with, I do Mt. Carmel Church
with these relationships that I know they’re not good for me but, but, but I don’t know anybody else. I don’t have any other free nobody else to be around me, but
if I go the way I feel like God is telling me to go, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Don’t let the fear of the unknown keep you from embracing the new life that Jesus has for you. Look what Larry did, Larry. If these are the people that were my friends, I would not want to be anywhere near them. Solarium verse 38 says, he begged Jesus that I might, that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away. He said, Jesus, let me go with you place. These people are crazy. Mt. Carmel Church I’m in my right mind now and now I see they’re the crazy ones.
I don’t want to be with these people. I want to be with you. Jesus. That would be me. I would feel like Larry, I mean these people that made fun of me all my life called me crazy legion. Larry, they call me all this names and and made fun of me or pointed me or random out and ran me out of my house, maybe ran me out of my business, ran me out of the city where I couldn’t come into the city more. I want to go with you and look what Jesus does. Jesus the nerve of Jesus. Look what he says in verse 39 at the end of verse 38, but Jesus sent him away saying return. I see him. I liked the imagery. I like to put myself in the story about. I just seen him at the booth. Now Mt. Carmel Church take me, Jesus, take me, Jesus, take me with you, and I’m like, Jesus, go, no, you got to stay. I’m not sure if that’s exactly how it went, but no. Says he sent him away saying, return to your own house. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa. Own House, own house. That tells me Larry had a house.
I want you to go back to the life you once knew before you became legion. I believe there was a time in Larry’s life where he was normal. Whatever normal looks like, but something happening, so I want you to go back to your house and tell what great things God has done for you, and he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him on asked this question. Have you ever asked God to deliver you out of something only to have him choose to deliver you into something.
Have you ever asked God to give you freedom from something, but he chose to give you freedom in it? The very place that was the torment of his existence. Jesus told him to go right back into it because here’s what I think happens. Sometimes freedom looks like a change of circumstances. Sometimes freedom means I’m going to get you out of that mess, and sometimes sometimes freedom doesn’t look like different circumstances. Freedom looks like a different us in the same circumstances. Sometimes God doesn’t call me out of something. He changes me, gives me a different perspective and puts me right back in it. So because here’s what happened. Mt. Carmel Church They got rid of Jesus, but Jesus, get outta here. You freak us out. Get out of here. Mt. Carmel Church They were scared. They were more afraid of freedom than they were of their own bondage.
Get outta here. Jesus. They got rid of Jesus, Mt. Carmel Church but they didn’t get rid of Larry and here it was Jesus’s beautiful strategy that everyday when Larry was walking the streets, it was a testimony. People’s like that. If you take a snapshot, a post of Larry’s life, now it’d be Hashtag. Hashtag no longer legion. Just Larry just learned that every time someone saw him, they saw the deliverance in the power of God. So now he went throughout all the town. He said, here’s my story, remember me, remember me. I know I look a little different with clothes on, but you remember me.
Let me tell you what Jesus did for me, and Larry story changed that entire region. That region is called [inaudible] capital, which means 10 cities. Larry went on a 10 city revival preaching about the goodness of Jesus. Jesus crossed the scene for one crazy guy. Can I say I’m glad that Jesus crossed the sea for this crazy guy. I had issues. I still got issues, but I had a lot more issues, but Jesus cross the sea for me and said, you’re not going to be identified by who you were or what you’ve done any longer. I’m going to bring the blood of Jesus into your life. See, most people here don’t know me who I was. They knew Chad, the preacher. No, Mt. Carmel Church Chad, the nice guy. They know Chad, the guy that’s awesome, and everybody likes him, but they don’t know the guy who could have been legion.
One time I was watching a movie and watching a movie of this guy who committed this horrible crime. I mean horrible crime kind of crime that makes you go, that guy deserves everything he gets. I mean like not like got a bad rap type of, you know, this guy, this was horrific crime and I remember sitting there watching the movie got maggots disgusting. I just can’t. Oh, that’s awful. And as I was saying, that man is awful. I didn’t hear it with my ears, Mt. Carmel Church but I felt this something that for me, I felt God say, that’s you without me.
Okay? It shook me. I’m not talking about all the little tear came down, get shook me. I ran upstairs and I laid on the floor and I started ugly crying like snot bubbles and just everything everywhere. Oh all over the floor. Because I recognized in that moment that without Jesus, I’m a felon. Without Jesus. I’m no different than that man. Without, without Jesus, I’m legion. It’s who I am. So I just want to be thankful for the blood of Jesus. What’s your story? What’s your story? Where’d you come from? Maybe what you’ve. You’ve done some things and you’re watching and you’ve done some things. You’re like, ah, I can’t get past it. It’s become my label. Mt. Carmel Church Maybe don’t be labeled by divorce. Don’t be labeled by something you’ve done will be labeled by saying, don’t be there is redemption through the blood of Jesus. Can we dig past Legion to see Larry and Lucy can we did the issues that there’s a person on the other side of that behavior?
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