[0:00] I want to extend a very warm welcome to everybody this evening and pray that we will all know God's blessing as we meet together around his word.
[0:11] We pray that his word will come with its usual freshness because even although we may be familiar with it, in the hand of God it is always new. And we pray that he will bless us which way.
[0:23] We're going to have a word of prayer. Let us pray. Lord our gracious God, we pray to bless us this evening as we gather before you. And we give thanks that you are God of heaven and earth, the one with whom we have to do.
[0:38] It is in you that we live and move and have our being. And we give thanks Lord for every blessing that we get from you, every blessing that we receive from you. We give thanks Lord for the way you guide our lives.
[0:51] And often in ways that we don't understand or expect. And sometimes we have to say even in ways we don't really want. And yet we have to understand that you know best.
[1:04] And we are persuaded that if we love you, that at the end of the day we'll be able to see and be able to say, Lord, you did all things well. And even although there have been things that aren't well and right in themselves, things that may have broken hearts, things that may have turned us upside down, so to speak, things that have left us changed, things that have torn us apart.
[1:34] Yet Lord, in these things we realise that for your people, that you're working all things together for their good. And so we pray that we might have the faith to see that, the faith to believe it, the faith to lay hold upon it, to understand Lord that you are guiding everything to a predetermined end.
[1:55] You have a purpose in everything. So we ask Lord that you will bless us. Praise every single person who listens today and tonight to your word. We ask Lord that it may come with power.
[2:07] We have no power within ourselves. Because we can't do anything to change people's lives or to build people up. But Lord, you can through your spirit. And that's what we ask that the Holy Spirit tonight will take the truth.
[2:21] And that you bring it home with power into people's lives. And that we will listen and hear and be converted and built up in the faith and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
[2:33] Lord, we pray to protect us, Lord, from all the dangers that are around and about and even within. Lord, we recognise that there are powers within us that will defeat us unless it is for you.
[2:45] The very power of our own sinful being. The very power of the evil one who is going about seeking to destroy and to disrupt and to devour.
[2:55] Lord, we ask, Lord, that you will protect us. You protect every home and every family. Put a hedge around us and all that we love. Oh, Lord, we pray that you will be gracious to us and that you will uphold us and that you will keep us.
[3:11] That you will do us good every day and every night. Pray for those who can't sleep very well. Those who are filled with anxieties and worries and problems. Lord, we pray that you will give them sleep at night.
[3:23] Help them, Lord, to know your peace in their soul. Pray for those, Lord, who are distressed, who have mental issues just now, who are in dark places.
[3:35] And they maybe cannot confide in anybody else, but, Lord, they're able to confide in you. Lord, grant them grace to be able to come to you and to experience a healing.
[3:47] Pray for those who are the God who were told in your word that he heals those who are broken in their heart. And he tenderly abides their wounds.
[3:59] Pray for those who mourn, those who are sad, those who are lonely, those who are cast down. Pray to heal the sick. We ask, Lord, that your gracious hand may be upon them.
[4:09] Pray for those, Lord, who may be dabbling in the powers of darkness. Lord, deliver them from a fearful enemy that maybe they don't realize is the enemy that is seeking to devour them.
[4:24] Pray, Lord, for those who are in the grip of addictions. We ask, Lord, that you will deliver them. And we encourage and ask, Lord, that you will encourage all those who work with them. And seeking their well-being, those who are giving of their time and energy in the various works that go on to help and to promote well-being in people's lives.
[4:47] Of course, the greatest well-being of all is to come to know Jesus Christ. Pray to bless us nationally and internationally. And as restrictions begin to be eased a little, we pray, O Lord, that we will be able to see your hand delivering us.
[5:02] Not that we deserve it, because we've turned our back upon your order. So often that's what happens. Your word, as we heard last week from Mr. McKeever, as he shared in the word, that if we forsake you, you will forsake us.
[5:16] It's a fearful thing to forsake the living and through God. So we ask, Lord, despite what we are, that you won't abandon us, that you'll have mercy upon us. Pray for every encouragement that we have received with regard to the discovery of even a very familiar, cheap drug that will take the worst out of those who are maybe seriously ill with the COVID-19 and ventilators and needing oxygen.
[5:44] We pray, Lord, that even more will be discovered. We pray that a vaccine, an effective vaccine, will very soon come into play and that we will be kept from the deadly death that has affected this world.
[5:59] Pray, Lord, for all those who nurse broken hearts through the bereavements that have taken place. And we pray, Lord, to be with all the workers who have kept this country going through their difficult times.
[6:12] Remember, Lord, all our NHS workers and those who have really put themselves out and at the very front line, who have dealt with harrowing and difficult experiences week after week and indeed month after month.
[6:27] Lord, we pray that you will help them to recover from the bruising and the battering that their bodies and their minds have taken over this time. Lord, be gracious to us.
[6:38] We pray for those who have the rule over us at local level and at Holyrood and at Westminster. We commit them to your care and ask, Lord, that you will guide them in the right way, even if they don't look to you.
[6:51] Lord, we pray that you will guide them and we give thanks for every single person who looks to you and particularly those who have the rule over us. We ask, Lord, that you will encourage them and that you will strengthen their witness.
[7:05] Bless your word now as we will come to it very shortly. Take away from us our every sin, we pray. In Jesus' name we ask God. Amen. Amen. Right, I'm just going to have a wee word to any of the young folk that might be looking in today.
[7:24] My great-grandfather, my grandfather was a minister here in Stornoway, Kenneth Macrae, but his father was a soldier. He was a soldier all his life. That was his career.
[7:36] He was in what was then, way back, the Seaforth Highlanders. The Seaforth Highlanders, I think it was about 1961 or something, was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, which then again was amalgamated.
[7:57] There's been so many joining together of different regiments over the years. But he was an RSM, a regimental sergeant major in the Seaforth Highlanders.
[8:11] And in fact, my grandfather was born in Fort George, which is, there were army barracks just outside Inverness. And you can go and visit there if you're ever on holiday or if maybe you live near there.
[8:23] Anyway, that's where he was born. And he always had a love for the army. It was something that never went out as long as he lived. He always had an interest and a concern and a prayerful love for the army.
[8:40] And of course, some of the family followed that line. And we've got a lot of bits and bobs in the house that have come down, lots of medals and various things like that, from my great-grandfather and from my granduncles and such like.
[8:56] But one thing that we have, which is, I like it, it's not the nicest thing, but this is a bayonet.
[9:06] And if you want to know exactly, if you want to look it up and see what it is, what kind of bayonet it is, it's one, we're told here, it's a Sanderson make.
[9:17] And it was, it's 1907. So if you look up a bayonet, 1907 Sanderson, it'll tell you everything about it. The bayonet, of course, this is a scabbard or the sheath that the bayonet is in.
[9:32] And it's kind of, it's made of a very strong leather. The bayonet itself is made of steel. It's in a walnut handle. And the bayonet, of course, was carried from the belt that the soldiers had there.
[9:48] But, of course, then there was the fixed bayonet. So, you see, it's quite a murderous looking thing. Now, it's quite safe because I have deliberately, and it has never been since way back in the time when it was actually used, it's as blunt as can be, so that I could even run it along my hand.
[10:06] And I have no intention of sharpening it because it would be a very, very dangerous weapon. I've never been tempted to sit at the dinner table with this as my knife and having a fork.
[10:17] It's quite difficult to cut your meat with this, particularly as blunt as it is. But this bayonet, you'd say to yourself, Oh, if I carried that bayonet, I wouldn't be afraid of anybody.
[10:30] This is, I would be really powerful if I had that bayonet. Well, I'm going to ask you a question. Which do you think is more powerful, which is more sharp, which is sharper?
[10:44] This that I have in my right hand or this that I have in my left hand? Now, I'm sure a lot of people say, Oh, definitely. The wee sword bayonet, that's an amazing thing.
[10:59] Well, what I have in this hand is even more amazing. The Bible, we're told, is also a sword. We're told in the Bible that the Word of God, this is what it tells us in Hebrews, that the Word of God is living.
[11:15] It's alive and it's active and it's sharper than a two-edged sword. Now, this is not a two-edged sword. This sword, it's only got this one edge.
[11:28] That edge, you can't do anything with it. It's a bang. It's got no edge to it. But there were swords that had a double edge, that side and that side. That would be really, really scary, lethal.
[11:39] But it tells us that the Bible is sharper than a two-edged sword. And that the Bible, the Word of God goes right into people's hearts and it changes people.
[11:52] And it makes angry people glad. And it makes scared people calm and peaceful. It changes people's lives.
[12:04] Again, we're told in the Bible that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. You're a physical sword. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.
[12:15] Now, a sword is two things. You either, you attack with a sword and you defend with a sword. You do both. And that's what you use for the Word of God.
[12:26] You're able to attack with it and you're able to defend with it. Because Jesus said, when the devil comes at you and he tries to tempt you to this and that, you bring the Word.
[12:39] Bring the Word like a sword against him and attack him with it. And defend yourself with it. Just being said, way back in the 1700s, the early 1700s in England.
[12:51] England was a terrible place way, way back. At the very beginning of the 1700s. It was dark. It was evil. It was godless.
[13:03] And it was a dangerous place to be. And around near, sort of, earlier on in the 1700s, God converted a few very powerful people.
[13:18] People like George Whitefield, or Woodfield as some call them, and John Wesley, and Charles Wesley, some of these. And quite a lot of men. And they went round the country preaching.
[13:30] And at first people used to throw things at them and hated them. And there was a lot of people. Everybody was against them. People were trying to kill them. But, you know, in fact, I'll tell you one story.
[13:41] George Whitefield was preaching out in the open air. There was a crowd around. And this man picked up a huge stone to throw at him to try and kill him. And as he would pick this through like that, the word of God that George was preaching came with such power that the man dropped the stone.
[13:58] He was converted. And God blessed the preaching of these men so powerfully, a revival swept throughout England. And it was changed. And in all the towns and cities, people began to seek the Lord.
[14:14] And historians, people, or some historians will tell us, people who really study history and write about history and so on, that if it weren't for this revival that had broken out where God's word changed people's lives, that very likely England would have suffered the same kind of revolution that France did for so many thousands of people were murdered.
[14:40] So you see, God's word is more powerful than the sword. It changes people. So you ask the Lord today, Lord, you come into my life with the power, the power of your word, so that it will change my life and that I will know what it is to have a living, active word working in me every single day.
[15:02] We're going to say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[15:13] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
[15:28] Amen. Now we're going to read God's word. We're going to read from the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 8. Gospel of Luke chapter 8, and we're going to read from verse 26.
[15:42] Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.
[15:53] For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
[16:09] I beg you, do not torment me. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
[16:26] Jesus then asked him, What is your name? He said, Legion, for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
[16:41] Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herds rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
[16:58] When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
[17:21] And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.
[17:36] So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
[17:53] He went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Amen, and may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word.
[18:03] Now if we could turn again to the chapter, well, if we're looking at chapter 8 of Luke's Gospel, and the two verses I want us to focus on tonight are from, in fact, three verses, from verse 37.
[18:25] Luke chapter 8, verse 37. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them. For they were seized with great fear.
[18:36] So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
[18:49] And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. The powers of darkness are at work in this world all the time.
[19:02] And very often, Satan and his legions of angels, they disguise themselves and they hide themselves. And the true nature of their real evil is often not seen.
[19:17] But of course, there are times when evil explodes in this world in the most awful way. And where we really see the powers of hell, the powers of darkness at work.
[19:31] And it's as, almost as if God has left things unchecked. And where he has removed all his restraining graces and allowed darkness just to work.
[19:43] You might see pictures like that of maybe in under Nazi Germany through the concentration camps and where millions every day, thousands, are being put to death.
[19:55] Men, women, children. And there is no other explanation for it than it's just a process of darkness at work in the human heart. You look at Paul Potts' Cambodia, and just when you see just the fearful slaughter.
[20:13] And it's something that you just can't get your head around. It's Stalin's Russia. These things, there's a display of evil that is frightening. But so much of the time, there's a veneer of respectability covering the forces of darkness.
[20:31] They don't display themselves like that all the time. Or else, this word would be, we can't even begin to imagine what it is, what it would be like. Now, of course, Satan's great purpose is to get at God.
[20:43] Everything he does is ultimately to get at God. He tries to take all the glory that's possible away from God so God won't get glory out of anything that takes place in his own creation.
[20:56] But above all, his great aim for us is to prevent us coming to know God. His great aim is to keep us in darkness. That's why the Bible says that the God of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe, lest they see the glorious gospel, the glorious light of Jesus in the gospel.
[21:17] So Satan's great work is to try and close our minds to the truth. But if he can't do that, if he sees that a person comes to accept the Lord and comes to faith in the Lord, then he will do everything that he can to prevent that person from enjoying God and to try and keep that life as fruitless as possible so that that believer won't enjoy being a Christian and won't be a great Christian in this world.
[21:46] So Satan is at work all the time. Now, in this episode, we meet a man who is well and truly demon-processed. This poor man had not just one demon in them.
[21:58] There were loads of demons. That's why he was called Legion. They had come to dwell in them. Jesus had crossed to the country of the Gerasenes or sometimes it's termed the Gadarenes which was just across the sea from Galilee and he is met by this demon-possessed man, Legion.
[22:18] So I want us to look at how Jesus, very briefly, at how Jesus deals with that man. But then to look at verses 37 and 39 because there are two different requests given in these verses.
[22:33] Now this man, Legion, was absolutely crazy. He was demented. He was deranged. Nobody could control him. You go to Mark's Gospel which is a similar account of what we have here and we're told there that he lived amongst the tombs.
[22:48] He ran about naked. He would cry out. He would cut himself with stones. There was a reason obviously he had gone and people would try and because he was obviously terrorising the community people tried to shackle him and catch him but nobody had the strength to bind him really because even when they did put him in chains he would break the chains.
[23:14] using the supernatural powers of darkness to do that. These powers that are way beyond. Satan of course is not divine in any shape or form but he has amazing powers and this man was strengthened by these powers to do things that are beyond what the human could do.
[23:37] So he terrorised the whole community and he himself lived in terror. he was in a terrible state and there is nobody that can deliver a person really from the power of darkness apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[23:55] There is no we cannot by self-improvement by positive thinking by anything that we might try to do any moral reformation or anything nothing and no one can deliver us apart from the Lord Jesus Christ only.
[24:13] That is part of what he is and it's part of his great work he has defeated and Jesus alone has defeated the devil. Now when this man saw Jesus he fell down before Jesus and he cried with a loud voice what have you to do with me Jesus son of the most high God I beg you do not torment me.
[24:34] Here is somebody who knew in the one breath the power of Christ to save and yet the other breath didn't want Christ to have anything to do with him. And you know there's a lot of people in that category.
[24:48] There are loads of people who know that Jesus has come to save but they don't want to be saved. There are loads of people who could tell others that I bet you there are many many people who could quote John 3 16 the great gospel text they could quote it but they say I don't want that's not for me I don't want that but I know why Jesus came into this world I know what he's about I know he's about saving and people will joke about it and they'll make out that they don't want it and that's kind of what we almost see with this man but there's also somewhere deep within him there is a desperation and it also shows us the fear that the powers of darkness have of Christ because they are subject to him they recognise his authority over them they know that he has a power beyond any power that they have and so there is a fear you know the Bible tells us that the devil this is with regard to God that the devil believes in God and trembles doesn't believe with faith doesn't believe by way of being saved but believes knowing that belief is a sheer acknowledgement that God is he knows the presence he knows the power he knows the authority of God and he trembles before it and so do all the demons you know there a lot of people in this world would say
[26:23] I'm an atheist but you know there's not one atheist in hell not one and so we find that there's this sense of the power of Jesus before the devil before the legion and then we see this recognition of the authority of Jesus because they begged in verse 31 that he wouldn't send them into the abyss now that's very interesting because one day Satan and all the region of angels will be sent to the abyss into the bottomless pit forever and ever and ever at the moment they have a freedom that one day they won't have and they have a freedom in this world that one day will be completely taken from them and they know that their time is short and that's why they rage but one day they will be judged and one day they will be there but at the moment that's why
[27:23] Satan is turned the god of this world and so they asked Jesus that they might be allowed to enter the pigs that were feeding on the hill side and Jesus gave them permission and he cast them out of the poor man and verse 33 tells us what happened that the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and the herd rushed down the steep banks into the lake and were drowned and what a moment that must have been for Legion as he saw because we're told in Mass Gospel there were about 2,000 pigs when he looked across he just all of a sudden he saw these pigs that were just following about and doing what pigs do 2,000 of them on the hillside and all of a sudden away they go whether they were snorting but you could imagine the thundering the noise of them stampeding down the hillside and they all jumped into the water and were drowned and Legion was seen before or the demonic man was seen before his very eyes that was what would have happened to me that was my end it must have been an extraordinary moment for him how thankful this man must have been that he made his way to Jesus and you know it's so important that we make our way to
[28:49] Jesus you know there's only two directions that we can be going in everybody's either running to God or running away from God right now here today everywhere people are either making their way to God and wanting to be with God or they're going in the other direction they're going away from God and going away from God is our default position that's what happened in Eden when Adam and Eve fell they ran from God and we've been running from God ever since and it's only when Jesus comes into the dead because Jesus came to seek and to save us as we were running away from God that salvation comes and so it is absolutely essential that we turn to look to Jesus now of course we see that the herdsmen who had been looking after all the pigs they legged it into the cities and into the countryside to tell everybody what had happened to see that they must have been rubbing their eyes and saying am I really seeing are my eyes playing tricks because they're calmly as you know some of the pigs just roll about foraging about all of a sudden they just go nuts they go crazy charging down the hillside and so the people come out they say we've got to come so that you can see all the people coming out and they're coming along and they see two things that absolutely freak them out first that the hillside is bare the 2000 pigs are gone and the other thing that absolutely astounded them that would have taken their breath away was here's legion sitting at the feet of
[30:34] Jesus clothed and his right mind completely saying normal everything has returned to normal and you know it's an amazing thing because the impact on these people was quite extraordinary and you know every single conversion has an impact on somebody or an impact on a few people nobody's converted and their life changed and it doesn't touch or rub off or affect one way or another other people when you are converted your conversion affected people whether it was in your home or at work or at school or wherever it touches other people sometimes it draws people sometimes people react negatively but there is always a reaction there's always a response now some people of course when they're converted it's very very obvious they've been converted some people it's not very obvious at all some people may always have had a drawing a leaning to the
[31:43] Christian faith they have their life their lifestyle has looked and has appeared Christian and so when they actually came to embrace Jesus Christ as Savior there was very little outward difference to the life that they had always lived but for other people it's dramatic like Saul of Tarshish couldn't have been much more dramatic although he was a religious man he hated the Christian he persecuted the Christian so as mentioned last week in the midst of the likes of Manasseh he just murdered the Christian left right and center and yet we find him as it were turning to the Lord turning in repentance and so when the Holy Spirit comes into a person's life there is a change there's a radical change we're turned in a different direction that's what conversion is we're turned round we're turned from going that way to going that way we're turned to God and still we're turned against our back was to God before
[32:47] God turns us round so that we're now to him so that now his face is to us and his face is shining upon us his face and his favour are now on us because we're going in the right direction and so conversion is the most wonderful thing and you see Jesus Christ has come to bring light and life and hope and peace into people's lives so we see the reaction of the people the Gadarenes when this man was converted was changed and they were afraid and here's the request here's the first of the two requests notice what they asked Jesus to do this this this almost takes your breath away tells us they asked Jesus to depart from them isn't that incredible now I can't read these words without thinking they're using the very words that Jesus is going to use in the judgment when Jesus is going to say to those who have asked him in this life to depart from him he will very simply give back to them what they said to him because he will also say depart from me see it's a very very serious thing to say to
[34:11] Christ to depart because one day we have to face him and if we ask and lure life making Christ depart from us and refusing him entry then it's inevitable we will get what we chose and you know what you can't look at this but without thinking that there are so many people today who are asking Jesus Christ to depart there are people who make it their business to try and ask Jesus to depart out of education out of schools out of society out of politics out of everywhere they say it's alright Jesus can be in a home in one person that person is free to live his or her life as they wish exclusively on their own but it doesn't work like that and Jesus says don't don't ask me to depart because if you're trying to remove the Bible and remove Christianity from any place you are saying to
[35:14] Jesus depart get out Jesus get out of this place I don't want you remember when you say that to Jesus the day will come when Jesus will say that back you would think that they would if you were going to write the story what you would imagine is that the people of the community would throw a party a great feast and they'd say hey we're going to throw a big feast top table Jesus and legion and oh wow what a feast what a celebration this is going to be this man who terrorized the community he's been delivered Jesus go away quite extraordinary and you know if we turn our back upon God as the minister was saying last week if you for Jesus forsake that's what God says if you forsake me I'll forsake you and the worst thing that can happen to us individually personally within our communities within our nation is that God forsake us that God abandons us that he leaves us and says you get on with it yourselves my restraining graces will go because you know we take the restraining grace of
[36:27] God for granted and so it's a fearsome thing to be left alone that's one of the worst judgments God could give is to leave us to ourselves but then we see the other request and this is from the man who was healed he wanted to be with Jesus he never ever wanted that Jesus would go he begged that he could get with him and we can well understand that because a powerful bond of love is created in the heart of the person who is delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ it's not something you can ever get rid of that doesn't mean that that bond of love is always soaring in your heart but it's always there you never stop loving because he never stops loving you it's that love that's reciprocated and that love is right there all the time and so the healed man begged that he could go with them and I'm sure there's various reasons why he wanted one of the reasons I'm sure was he might be scared that the demons would come back what if when Jesus goes away the demons would come back no they won't you see once you're delivered by Jesus
[37:43] Christ you're delivered that's it it's a once and for all deliverance but maybe he felt that things wouldn't be the same when Christ wasn't with him but this man would discover that the presence of Christ was with him all the time even if not physically yet spiritually Christ was with him and he's with us as well because we too will say to the Lord oh Lord don't leave me now we know from his word that he won't but in our own hearts we often fear what if he does oh Lord what if he leaves me because I can't do this on my own I'm finished the Lord knows that you're finished and we know we're finished that's why the Lord will never leave us he who has begun a good work will complete it Lord doesn't begin a work and end sort of say oh you know I'm giving up on him I'm giving up on her I hadn't realised the kind of person I was dealing with there he knew everything about you and everything about me and he knows everything about everybody and so any work he begins the moment he begins that work he will complete that work and so
[38:53] Legion of course is saying take me with you but you know this what I find overriding it all to a certain extent is the mercy of the Lord in this what does the Lord do he could very well have taken Legion but what did he do he told Legion he said you know what I want you to do for me I want you you see Legion Legion wanted to go with Jesus I want to live with you I want to serve you well Legion I want you to serve me but you know what I want you to serve me I want you to go back home and I want you to tell everybody what great things the Lord has done for you isn't that wonderful what a mercy that Jesus is sending the brightest missionary into the very country that asked Jesus to depart isn't that mercy you would expect Jesus say yes Legion you come with me we'll have nothing more to do with these people they don't want me that's not the way God works his mercy is so great he sends
[39:55] Legion he says I know they don't they've sent me out they don't want me but I want you to go in and to tell them what great things and my word that would have been a zealous fervent missionary who would have gone in and he would have told people he was a living walking talking proof of the power of Jesus Christ return to your own home see the Lord has a service for every person when we're saved we're saved to serve and one of the hardest places to serve the Lord is in your own home it's very hard sometimes to be a real good witness for the Lord in your own home because people know you best they know your warts and all they know who you are in a way that probably nobody else does but the Lord says that's what I want you to witness and so my friend the Lord has a service for you wherever you are whether it's in your home or in a hospital or in a hotel or in a school or in a bus it doesn't matter where it is whether it's in the shop whether it's at a station it doesn't matter where wherever you are that is your place of service and God will enable you to serve in there and what a privilege it is to be able to serve because you have a witness and a testimony that nobody else has your life is unique your witness is unique and so as
[41:29] Legion's witness was going to be unique so the Lord said you go back and tell that's what he's saying to us today you tell people when the opportunity is there you tell them what great things the Lord has done for you well as we come to conclude a question which question are you asking Jesus today or which which thing I should say are you asking of Jesus today because you're going to be asking one of two things are you going to say to him to depart are you going to say leave me alone Jesus don't want you or are you going to say Jesus I want to be with you I want to be with you but it's important that you face up to the reality of how life is and where we are and time is short you ask Jesus please today Lord come into my heart and help me to be with you and live for you we are going to conclude our service and we are going to sing from psalm number 90 psalm number 90 and this is from the
[42:36] Scottish Psalter and we are going to sing the last four verses of the psalm these are pre-recorded singings from kennel street final singings of services there psalm 90 from verse 14 these verses of psalm number 90 oh with thy tender mercies Lord as early satisfy as early satisfy so we rejoice shall all our days and still be glad in thee and still be glad in thee and still be glad in thee according as the days have been when we grieve of heart when we grieve of heart and and years we have seen so do thou make us glad so do thou make us glad so do thou make us glad so do thou make us glad guy yourself his отд� like
[45:02] And show unto their children dear Thy glory evermore, thy glory evermore.
[45:27] And let the beauty of the Lord our God be us upon, our God be us upon.
[45:45] Our handy works establish love, establish them each one.
[46:08] Now may the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you, now and forevermore. Amen.
[46:20] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[46:32] Amen. Amen. Americans