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[0:00] So our text today brings us to a place called Gadara. G-A-D-A-R-A. So Gadara, I guess, would be if we were using phonics to sound it out.

[0:13] Gadara. The Lord had crossed the Sea of Galilee and entered into Gadara to minister to the Gadarenes. See, it's a Gadara, that makes sense. All right, the Gadarenes were common people with common jobs, so they were like everyday people.

[0:25] They probably were servants, they probably took care of regular things that regular people do. I don't know what that is right now, I don't like it, look at that. But probably mowed their yard, they probably didn't mow their yard.

[0:37] Anyways, at the time of Jesus' arrival, they were probably doing normal chores of their day. But when Jesus' disciples came off the ship, they were not met by common people. Jesus faced two men possessed with demons.

[0:50] And Matthew's account tells us there were two men, while Mark's account tells us that there was one that was heavily afflicted with the most demons. And so we'll go Matthew 8, 28 first.

[1:02] And he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes. There met him two possessed with devils coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

[1:14] You know, I must be a pretty crazy guy that even everybody else is like, yeah, we just don't go that way, so we don't want to run into that guy. Don't say that.

[1:27] Okay, sometimes there's thoughts that come through your mind that you're not supposed to say out loud. Okay, I fought it. Okay, Mark 5, 2 through 5 says, And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying, cutting himself with stones.

[2:05] So this passage, it's here what Christ did to help this man. We see the truth that we should know about spiritual warfare. So, number one, do we get handouts yet?

[2:18] Are they still coming? I'll come back to it and tell you again what it is. Joe's on the way. There we go. It's good to have kids. Isn't it? All right.

[2:28] The presence of demonic influence. Mark 5, 2. There met him a man of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Okay. The man was Satan's prize exhibit, a man under the influence of a great host, a legion of demons.

[2:46] We know a legion is how many? A thousand. Well, it's a minimum of a thousand because the Roman legions had a thousand in each one of their legions. So, we don't know this man.

[2:59] We don't know how the man got into this condition. Perhaps he had been messing around with the occult. He could have been doing ritual worships. Maybe he was in the groves.

[3:09] You know, as we hear about in the Old Testament, he was maybe seeking after flagrant immorality, possibly involved with narcotics. We just don't know exactly how he got there. But we know that he was fully possessed and controlled by a power far greater than himself.

[3:23] We live in a culture, obviously, where demon influence surrounds us everywhere we go. How do we know someone's experiencing some type of demonic influence? How do we know when there's a presence of oppression that's hindering a person from living for God?

[3:38] Well, there's some revealing factors in this man's life. I don't know about these other people, but we can see from this guy, based on what the Scripture says, and this brings us to A.

[3:50] So, that first one was, and I apologize, the presence of demonic influence. And then we get to A, a deathly interest.

[4:02] This man had a fascination with death. He lived among the tombs, sleeping among the bones of the deceased. And this is where the man chose to spend his time. Now, that could be because he was affected by the demons that had possessed him.

[4:18] But I would say that, you know, that there's probably more to it. He was obviously under the control of Satan. He chose to live in an unclean place. Anyone under the control of demons will naturally move toward more filth, depravity, and inhumane behavior.

[4:33] It's not a new idea. It's found throughout history. The Bible speaks of it in Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65, 1 through 4. I am sought of them that asked not for me.

[4:43] I am found of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.

[5:00] A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of bricks. Which remain among the graves, the lodge in the monument, I'm sorry, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things, is in their vessels.

[5:22] So during the Old Testament days, people would go to the gardens of Baal to burn incense, and worshiping after pagan deities in the graveyards. God sent Isaiah to tell the Israelites to come out of that and to be separate.

[5:37] God did not want his people in the groves in the darkness. As we often heard, the common theme was cut down the groves and raise up new altars. So that's important.

[5:48] So let's see. Illustration, right? Millions of people today expose themselves to this kind of darkness. And in this illustration, it says through video games. And it's true.

[5:58] There are a lot of video games that are out there that are not, obviously, not all video games are bad. So obviously, I'm going to guess most of us in here are probably not gamers. So we're going to expand upon this just a little bit.

[6:12] Video games have everything from scare games, where the whole idea is you're walking through a haunted house, and something pops out and scares you, to shoot them, kill them dead type things.

[6:23] And there are video games on all different varieties. Or we just go down to, like, my favorite, which is racing cars. I'm a car racing video game. I like to drive cars really fast. They don't let you do that for real and real life, because you go to jail, and you crash cars, and you die.

[6:37] And my wife would not like that or appreciate that either. So, but there are those types of games. And you also got other forms of entertainment that Christians and other people can get wrapped up in, such as ghost hunting television shows.

[6:51] Those are really popular. People like to watch those, or they wouldn't have them on television, right? Horror movies centered on demons, haunted houses, and people being possessed. I mean, we're getting to almost October.

[7:04] We know that if we watch any television, the ads for this garbage, they're going to be up. And that's what we're going to see. And young people like to go watch those things, for whatever reason.

[7:15] They seek after that death. And just after that evil thing. Spiritual practices, such as mediums and psychics claiming to contact the dead, seances, tarot card readings.

[7:31] You can watch regular, I don't know what else to call it, murder TV series, and that stuff pops up in there all the time. The bad guys are practicing and doing these things, and that's just part of it.

[7:45] The world knows that those things are bad, so much so that they even put that into television for us to watch a detective figure out who done it, and how they're wrapped up within a cult of some sort.

[7:58] Online culture. I mean, we think about TikTok, and all the other video sources, Facebook and stuff. You got those people sending out these reels. I just moved into this new house.

[8:10] I'm pretty sure it's haunted. I have this fascination. I have to catch this ghost. There's a fascination with death. And people are comfortable with those types of things.

[8:23] And the Christian Post, which we hear Michael Brown, spoke with a youth pastor in Seattle, Washington, after the 9-11 attacks, about how teenagers were impacted by these terrorist attacks. Some of these kids said, I found better graphics in my game than I did watching the 9-11 Tower videos.

[8:39] What's the deal? They didn't understand the correlation of death, the seriousness. They've become seared to it because that's the direction and the things that they've seen.

[8:53] They had become desensitized to real people dying because of what they exposed themselves to through video games. This man that we read about today, he was more comfortable with the abnormal than the normal.

[9:05] He chose to live in the cemetery among the dead. He was a man who was rejected by his family, friends, and society. His behavior and demon possessions caused this alienation. He was a man with an interest in death.

[9:18] B, the destructive strength. Mark 5, 3 through 4. Jared, would you read that for us? Thank you. Who had his dwellings among the tombs, and no man could bind him.

[9:34] No, not with chains, because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him.

[9:46] People had tried to bind this man, and he would break through any chain that men had tried to put on him. This was under the influence of a power much greater than himself. Like a person on a powerful drug, he had superhuman kind of power.

[9:58] He's completely under the control of demonic oppression. When we allow sin to have dominion in our lives, we become servants to sin. And I gave this some thought, because it's like, how do you describe this strength and this power?

[10:12] And we often hear the story about how this parent, the car flipped over, and the mom comes over, and she's like, and lifts the car off of her child, and there's that moment of superhuman strength that happens there.

[10:31] We've heard of these types of experiences. We've heard reports of it. We've even told our kids about, if that horse falls on you, I'll lift that horse off of you and take care of you.

[10:41] I don't know. Maybe we've done something like that. And there's adrenaline strength, right? There's those types of things. But in today's day and age, when those types of things happen, people's, I mean, the brain, my wife has this book that she's been reading, and I apologize.

[10:54] It's been a while. I don't remember what the name of it is. It was talking about the mind limits and protects us. So, for example, the human body is fearfully and wonderfully made in that we can actually go further than we think.

[11:09] We can lift more than we can comprehend or understand that our limits are bound within our mind for our protection, because the body is not designed to exert nonstop this type of energy because it breaks bones.

[11:28] My dad told me this story about that he was at West Roads Mall, and he had this guy that was a trucker, and he was also, my dad was a truck driver. You guys met my dad.

[11:39] And so he ran with that type of a crowd and had this type of people, and this guy was a professional arm wrestler, and he was super strong.

[11:49] Like, his forearms were like my legs in size, just massive. And he would arm wrestle, and he'd arm wrestle, and he'd gotten to the place where he was so strong that he was arm wrestling, and he actually broke his arm because his muscles were stronger than the bones in his arm, and he crushed his arm in doing this.

[12:09] Now, by comparison, this guy had a destructive strength like that, except for spiritually induced.

[12:22] And so he obviously was not having those other things going on there, but he was completely under control of his demonic oppression. We allow sin to have demean over lives.

[12:32] We become servants to that sin. Jesus answered him. John 8, 34 says, Jesus answered him and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin.

[12:42] I wonder if I skipped a line here. I clearly skipped something in here. John 8, 34 says, Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin. Sin will always bring us much further than we intend to go.

[12:55] Perhaps this man began dabbling with a little problem, some mild interest in some form of the occult, but now he was overwhelmed and he had come to a place of no return. That brings me to that remembrance of an old Southern Gospel song.

[13:09] Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. And I'm not going to sing that, but we're going to see a delirious tendency.

[13:21] Mark 5, 5. Joe, you want to read that for me? So it was established that this man with supernatural strength lived in a graveyard.

[13:36] This verse shows us that he ran around night, at night, screaming, cutting himself with stones. As the society moves away from the presence of the power of God, there will be more abusive, destructive behavior like the behavior of this man.

[13:47] So jump down to 1 Kings 18, 26 through 28. It takes us back to the time of when Elijah was, and the prophets of Baal, they all met together down there, and they built altars unto the Lord, and Elijah called down fire from heaven.

[14:09] We'll go ahead and read that at 1 Kings 18, 26 through 28. And they took the bullet which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us!

[14:19] But there was no voice, nor that any answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made, and it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a God.

[14:32] Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey. Or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after the manor with knives and lances till the blood gushed out upon them.

[14:46] So when we think about that as the illustration, I mean, I don't know if we've ever known people who cut themselves to feel things. Once again, I do know somebody who has done those types of things, and we see reports of it on TV that teenagers are cutting themselves, some people cutting themselves into death, some people just doing to get attention, others are doing it to feel things because they've become numb to things of this world because they aren't seeking after those things which are right.

[15:19] One of the things that came up here or references here is the example of a tattoo. It's not placed on the body without the cutting of skin. So, I mean, whether people know that or not, it's a needle that injects ink and pokes your skin to put that into there.

[15:37] And when CIDI began to study what's happening with CIDI, whoa, sorry, when you begin to study what is happening in our society, things that were once considered pagan are now becoming prevalent in our culture. We see more people cutting themselves to make a statement.

[15:50] We see more people doing tattoos. I mean, we see people that put tattoos everywhere and all sorts of things. It's quite crazy. And so, self-mutilation was a pagan practice.

[16:02] Those who worship false gods would use this method to appease their gods, which obviously we just read about in 1 Kings 18. once someone is under demonic influence, it's not just a tattoo or piercing, it's not just in a moral relationship or two.

[16:17] Sin always has consequences. Each year, there are 20 million new cases of sexually transmitted disease. Many of them have to live with the tattoos and piercings that they wish they'd never gotten.

[16:30] If that's you, please understand that God's grace knows no limits and he does want to use you. As we will soon see with this man possessed by a legion of demons, God wants to save and transform all, not a matter of their past.

[16:44] So, I was just thinking about that. They also, so I used to give plasma, and I'm sure other people have given plasma. One of the questions they always ask when you go to give plasma was, have you gotten a tattoo?

[16:56] Did you go to a reputable place? Have you been tested for tuberculosis? Have you been tested for all these other things since you got your tattoo? Because that's another way to prevalently transmit diseases because they don't always clean their equipment, right, and all those types of things.

[17:09] So, it's just another way of saying there are a lot of things that are destructive that are there. on to D, a deviant behavior. Mark 5.15.

[17:20] I'm going to volunteer to read that. Mark 5.15. Mark 5.15? Yes, sir. In the name of Jesus, the name of the prophet of the son, he had sitting, clothed, and the right one.

[17:36] Prior to this man meeting Jesus, he was a naked man running around the countryside. This type of behavior since the Garden of Eden has been viewed as shameful. Habakkuk.

[17:47] Habakkuk. Habakkuk. We'll get it right. 2.15 says, Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and maketh him drunken also, that thou mayest look upon their nakedness.

[18:05] The concept of elevating nakedness is displeasing to God. When a person is under demonic influence, he does not view nakedness as a problem. In this man, we can see the prevalence of demonic behavior.

[18:16] We glimpse into our culture, we can see some of this behavior making an impact. And it's true. You can't turn on the television, you can't turn on a YouTube video, you can't turn on an advertisement without seeing things you don't need to see.

[18:31] I mean, let's just be honest, it is prevalent, and it's pretty much what the right word is, on display? I mean, you can't go to the lake without seeing things you don't want to see unless you're on the other side of the lake.

[18:42] You can't go to the beach, same story, you can't go to the mall because there are things that you just don't need to see because people just don't have modesty as part of their thought process.

[18:53] A lot of people, I shouldn't say not all people, but a lot of people don't have the thought process of being modest. What used to be immodest is now considered okay, it seems like.

[19:06] And that's, I mean, you know, I guess we don't know how my wife grab pictures of this, but if we were to look at people at the beach 150 years ago or 100 years ago where they started taking pictures and they're out there in like full outfits going out on the beach.

[19:24] You know what else they probably didn't have to deal with? Skin cancer. I'm just saying because they were covered. I mean, that seems like a simple solution there. Anyways, born out without hope, the man did not stay this way.

[19:39] He met the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The man who had been trapped by the presence of demonic influence was about to see the proclamation of deliverance. Which is two, proclamation of deliverance.

[19:51] And we'll read Mark 5, 6 through 14. And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him and cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God?

[20:02] I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. For he said to him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered saying, My name is Legion, for we are many.

[20:14] And he besought him that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

[20:26] And all the devils besought him saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith, Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently down a steep place and into the sea.

[20:39] And there were about two thousand and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled and told in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

[20:55] Jesus Christ sought out this man in his demon-possessed state and delivered him from his wickedness. Hey, deliverance for wickedness. It's interesting how all of this took place. The passage tells us the demons seeing Christ and worshiping him.

[21:08] The word worshipped in this verse 6 means that they bowed to him. Basically, it's an Eastern way of acknowledging his presence. The interesting thing is here, even though they bowed to Christ and even though they acknowledged that he was God, they clearly did not.

[21:29] That was not out of, that was out of acknowledgement, not out of respect, not out of yielding to God because clearly that was not their goal. It was just like, we acknowledge you're there.

[21:41] Okay, so there we go. The devils believe in God. These demons knew exactly who he was. They even referred to him as the son of the most high God. There are those who deny that Jesus is the son of God, but the devil and demons know exactly who Jesus is.

[21:57] These demons saw Jesus and they know they were outmatched. James 2.19, Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest dwell. The devils also believe and tremble. So believing the existence in God is not enough for salvation.

[22:12] There may be people who believe there is a God, but they've never turned to Jesus Christ exclusively as their Savior. If believing in God was enough for salvation, the devils would be saved.

[22:23] Makes logical sense. Deliverance did not come because the devils acknowledged who Jesus was. Deliverance came through the words of Christ. So deliverance by the word is B, Mark 5.8, and 9.

[22:42] For he said unto them, Come out of the man thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. In verse 9.13 it says, And forthwith, Jesus gave them leave, and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine.

[22:58] And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, for there were about 2,000 were choked in the sea. That must be a large legion because it says there was 2,000 swine that went into the sea.

[23:10] So there you go. The words of Christ are powerful. We should never underestimate the power of demonic influence, but we should never underestimate the power of Christ's words. He simply spoke. The demons left the man.

[23:21] Deliverance was through the word of God. Romans 10.17 says, Then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Always remember, God's word is your defense.

[23:33] When we think about when Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and the devil came out to tempt him, God's response was the word of God. He responded to the devil, and man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

[23:50] That was his response there in Matthew 4.4. And so that's important that we understand the word of God is what stops Satan, and when he tempts us, the word of God should be our defense.

[24:02] Here's some verses for us to consider for that. Psalms 19.14. Aaron? And then we'll also do Psalms 101.3. Jared? 1 Corinthians 6.18.

[24:15] James? Can we grab that one? And Joe? 1 Thessalonians 5.22. And then, do we have anybody? Oh, we should have had James do James 4.7.

[24:25] Never mind. Somebody? Ryan, James 4.7. Yes, sir. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be accessible in my sight.

[24:38] Oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. There we go. Jared? I will say no wicked things before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside and it shall not cleave me.

[24:52] 1 Corinthians 6.18. 1 Corinthians 6.18. 1 Corinthians 6.18.

[25:07] 1 Corinthians 6.18. That's right. 1 Corinthians 6.18.

[25:23] 1 Thessalonians 5.22. James 4.7. The word of God is our defense when Satan tries to tempt us.

[25:43] It is our deliverance from temptation. All throughout Christ's ministry, his spoken word rebuked the power of the wicked one. Looking back at those voices. The voices.

[25:53] Versus, wow. If we were to have these memorized when we, as men, things pop up in front of us all the time that we really shouldn't look at, right?

[26:05] And they pop up, and you might see it, but you don't have to turn back. You don't have to dwell on it. You can move on from it, right? That's the flee temptation.

[26:17] Turn and go the other way. It's kind of like we think of a former vice president who wouldn't eat with a woman, I mean, for lunch, without being with his wife or with somebody else.

[26:28] I mean, he just was avoiding the presence, or avoiding the appearance of all evil, and not giving any way for temptation, not giving any way for anybody to say anything bad about it.

[26:40] It's just allowing us to have, God provides a way out is what I'm trying to say. Sometimes it's just a decision that we have to make to take that path, that way out.

[26:53] Mark 9, 25 through 26 says, When Jesus saw the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto them, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him.

[27:05] Enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and ran him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch that they said, He is dead. Christ's very mission in coming to earth was to bring deliverance to mankind lost in sin.

[27:19] Luke 19, 10 says, For the Son of Man was come to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus saw us in our bondage of sin, and yet he came to make way for us to have freedom from that.

[27:32] If we have spiritual struggles, struggle holds, there is one way for deliverance, and that's through Jesus Christ. Number three, the third point. We're running out of time.

[27:43] This has got way more points than last week. The peace of the redeemed. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.

[27:55] Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. There is a metamorphosis, a change, that happens when someone receives Jesus Christ as Savior.

[28:07] Just like a butterfly goes into, just as a, sorry, as a caterpillar goes into its cocoon, and metamorphosis happens, and out comes this beautiful butterfly. Similarly, that's what happens when people get saved.

[28:20] Some people grow relatively quickly to others, may take more time, but anyone that is truly saved will grow, conforming to the image of Jesus Christ. The truth is evident in the life of this man.

[28:32] This is the one we looked at there, as we look at the guy who, the demons were called out of him, and, you know, clearly his life was changed through the power of Jesus Christ. So we'll read here again, Mark 5, 15 through 20.

[28:45] And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting clothed, and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They had known this guy to be crazy for a long time, and now he's just, they're normal?

[28:57] I mean, I guess, yeah, I would be suspicious of it. And they that saw it, told them how it befell him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coast.

[29:10] This is so weird. He's just got to go. Verse 18, And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

[29:30] And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. This man had a complete transformation.

[29:41] Jesus Christ had redeemed him and gave him peace that he had never known. Notice what came with the peace that Jesus gave him. A serene position. So serene's an adjective, and I want to look this up because I am not a wordsmith.

[29:56] I'm just not. It means he had a calm untroubled. He was at peace, marked by quiet confidence and composure. This man who had been running and screaming for years without finding satisfaction, he was insane, but through the power of Jesus Christ, he had become serene.

[30:13] He was now sitting in a chair of forgiveness enjoying the sweet fellowship of Christ that comes with salvation. 1 John 1, 6-7 says, If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

[30:28] But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

[30:41] Just as this man had a new position, we too can have the same peace through accepting Christ as our Savior. Just not begin, one of the things we will notice with this is, I mean, we see this in society all the time.

[30:56] People don't have a place to live. People don't have food to eat. People don't have, they're insane or whatever. We start with treating the symptoms and not the cause.

[31:09] Now, I'm not saying that all people that have mental issues, that them not knowing Christ is the cause, there's obviously chemical issues that come into play, and there are other things that would lead to that. But there are some people who are just tormented because they don't know the Savior.

[31:26] And that's where we have to start. Jesus didn't begin with clothing the man. Jesus began with the heart, the N word. But the peace in his heart couldn't help showing up in his behavior, referring to the man who had the demons cast out.

[31:43] B, a sane behavior, Mark 5, 13. And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

[31:55] When this man found redemption, his behavior changed. Having Jesus Christ in your life will affect your behavior. When this man met Jesus, he recognized that he needed to change his ways, and after we're saved, our outward behavior should change.

[32:08] 1 Timothy 2.9 says, In like manner also, that women adorned themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.

[32:20] As Jesus Christ worked in this man's life, his position changed, his behavior changed, and thirdly, his mind changed. He had a sound mind. For the first time, let's see if I got that note in the right place.

[32:36] Yes, okay. For the first time, this man had a sound mind, which only comes from Christ. Before he met Christ, he was a social outcast.

[32:47] He lived in the cemetery, amongst the monuments. He was considered dysfunctional to society. He was not only able to think clearly and have normal conversations.

[33:01] 2 Timothy 1.7 says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. That's for Christians. That's us. The Lord helped him in his ability to think and process thoughts, and with that came the rest that he needed, that rest that only Christ can give.

[33:21] You know, I thought about that, talking about the rest, and a lot of people, don't understand that sleep is vitally important to how we think and how we function.

[33:34] And it talks about that he was, at all times, cutting himself, wailing throughout the night, and they knew him during the day.

[33:45] They wouldn't pass by during the day because they'd run into him. He clearly wasn't sleeping either. And so, your mind does not work right without sleep. So that's very important.

[33:58] But I just thought that was interesting, that Christ gave him the rest that he needed, so that, you know, that would help his mind as well. So, I started reading that, and I stopped.

[34:09] Matthew 11, 28-30 says, Come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

[34:22] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. And Jesus still gives us the same invitation today. As Christians, we, I don't know, I have been in places, I, over the years, I have, not always done that which is right.

[34:40] And I, I know that. I mean, none of us are righteous, no, not one. But when I was, off, not doing right, my path wasn't easy. And, it wasn't, it wasn't able to easily understand, how, what was going on, why it was happening the way it was.

[35:02] But Jesus offered, I mean, God offers a path for Christians to even turn our hearts back towards him. It doesn't mean that we won't ever not go astray. I mean, we think of Jonah, who was called to Nineveh.

[35:14] He went astray, and God corrected him, and brought him back to the right path. So it's not, not uncommon for Christians to backslide, and need to turn back towards him as well. And, it's true, his yoke is easy, and the burden is light.

[35:30] While we're here, there are always moments of hard, hard times. I mean, I think of, I think of many, many hard times, for example, like, so Sam, obviously only has one arm.

[35:42] And everybody's met my son, Sam. He's got, he's a right, he's my right-handed man, right? Well, we were there, at the, at the, whatever the doctor is that does, delivers babies. There we go.

[35:53] We're at that, we're at the baby doctor. That's what I'm going to use, because, you know, that's what I'm thinking. Anyways, we're there, and we're, the ultrasound tech is in there, and they're, they're going around, they're measuring things, all excited, we're having a baby, right?

[36:04] And, you know, see the baby, we see the pictures, and they go, and they're, they're counting numbers, and digits, like Pastor says, all, all, all grandparents, I know what the numbers are, and how many digits they got, and all that stuff.

[36:15] And they're doing all this stuff, and then, you know, I'm looking at the picture, because I'm like, there's a baby, that's really cool. And then, you know, I didn't see anything, and of course, the ultrasound tech doesn't, doesn't say anything either, because that's not their job.

[36:29] It's not their job to deliver bad news, it's not their job to tell you what the measurements say, you know, as we know, it just, the ultrasound tech does not tell you what they say, they wait for the doctor to come tell you.

[36:42] And when we found out that, that Sam didn't have an arm, you know, like, we just want you to know, your baby doesn't have an arm. Well, at first, that was like, oh, well, that's terrible.

[36:56] Well, that's a sad moment. But you know what? And they're like, we should, we do the embryonic test, and we'll check and see if he's got some of their syndrome. Do you want to terminate? And it's like, no. No.

[37:10] That's not an option. We'll deal with it. And that's, you know, obviously the way that you handle those things, but, you know, in the moment, when you first hear the information, it's hard.

[37:20] But the realizing, the realization that Jesus is with us as a Christian helps you through that moment. Understand that the strength is not in ourselves, but in him, and that we follow that direction.

[37:33] Which brings us to the last point, I think. Yes. And I have like 60 seconds. A soul winning fervor. Mark 5, 16 through 20 says, And they saw, and they that saw it, told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.

[37:54] And they began to pray him to depart out of their coast. And when he was coming to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that he might be with him. So he wanted to go with Christ. And he departed, the man who was possessed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel.

[38:25] So, after he was in his right mind, people were telling him to leave. Often when Christians first get saved, their old friends do not want to be around them.

[38:36] You found Jesus, didn't you? Well, yeah. And I didn't have that experience, because I got saved when I was five. And, I don't know, I didn't understand, I didn't, maybe they didn't, maybe my neighbors didn't like me as much, because I couldn't read hardly at all.

[38:53] But I took my Bible, and I went outside, and went next door to the Conaglias. And, Al and Shelly Conaglia were my next door neighbors. I said, you gotta get saved!

[39:06] It says here in the Bible, do I know what it says? I have no idea. But there are words here, and they're red. That means Jesus said these, and you need to get saved. Now, that was me as a five-year-old, understanding that, it was good enough for me, it was good enough for my friends, and my friends should get it too.

[39:22] And, the neighbor across the street, Scott and Nick, you know, I mean, I just told all my friends, and, you know, we still hung out, they didn't abandon me, but, that's, something that, I saw that was a change for me, obviously, and I remember that, because, I remember going in the back, and I'm like, well, I don't know, we're Catholic.

[39:44] I have five, I don't know what that means. All I know is that, Jesus needs to save you, and that's more important than being Catholic. So, anyways, Jesus sent him to go and spread the gospel, and he did. This man was, now a soul owner, telling others what Jesus had done for him.

[39:57] If you've been saved, you have a story to tell, like this man who was freed from bondage of sin. You have been delivered by Christ, so go and tell others of what Christ has done for you. Proverbs 11, 30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.

[40:15] So, it's not always easy to start up a conversation, and it's not always easy, I mean, at work, it's frowned upon to talk about religion, and in social places, it's often, you know, discouraged, things you don't talk about in sales, politics and religion.

[40:38] I mean, you're never supposed to bring those things up, but if they bring it up, not necessarily politics, but definitely religion, if they bring that up, it opens the door, and I never miss an opportunity to tell them how Christ has worked for me, and how he's done things for my life.

[40:55] I would encourage you to try to do the same thing. There's always an opportunity, sounds, that's wrong, to slip Christ in, to tell others of Christ, because it's not slipping him in, that should be the point of the conversation.

[41:09]  So, anyways, alright, let's pray. may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may