[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Matthew chapter number 8 is where we're going today. The last paragraph we will look at here.
[0:12] Jesus Messiah, Lord of all. And He is the Lord of all. And we're going to see that today. We're going to look at Jesus' authority over the supernatural. And also we'll see His authority in our lives to tell us where we should go and what we should do because He is the Lord.
[0:27] How many of you would say Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life in here? Say amen. And we're going to see His power today. I kind of get the laughing on the front row because I realize as we're studying the passages today where Jesus casts 2,000 demons into the swine, into the pigs.
[0:46] After this we're going to have a barbecue meal together. And I think it's kind of ironic. We didn't plan that. But it's fitting. Our meal goes with our theme for the day. Matthew chapter number 8.
[0:56] We've already read the passage. So let me give you some information to get you caught back up to where we are at. As I've said, Matthew 8 is addressing authority. Jesus has.
[1:08] God is revealing Himself into this world through the person of Jesus. That's what we're told in Hebrews is that we learn about who God is through the person, the expression of Jesus Christ here upon the earth.
[1:18] Matthew chapter number 7. As we got to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, people were amazed that He taught with authority. Not as a scribe, not as somebody that knew a lot about Scripture, but somebody that spoke with real authority.
[1:31] I'm sure medical doctors, their least favorite thing to hear when they're with a patient is, I read on the internet, or my friend told me something. If you're a doctor, you probably get tired of hearing that because people trying to diagnose themselves through the internet, where a doctor would be a person who would understand, would have the authority on the matter of what's going on there would be better off.
[1:53] And so they were amazed at Him. He's taught somebody with authority. He's not somebody that's described. Somebody had it. Then in Matthew chapter number 8, verses 8 and 10, the centurion said, I am a man of authority as well.
[2:04] I have people underneath me, and I understand how authority works. And if you want to heal my daughter, I know that you don't even have to be there because your authority is so strong that you could speak it, and it would happen.
[2:17] It wasn't that Jesus was just going around being able to do things with His hand, but He had the power over sin and curse and disease and all those things. So He could speak it, and it would happen, and we're certain to better understand His authority.
[2:30] And the healing there of Peter's mother-in-law, he even has authority over mother-in-laws, which you that are married in here know how powerful that is. And the pastor ended last week with the power over the natural world.
[2:43] They get on the boat, and Jesus, isn't it wild? Jesus talks, He confronts them, and He says, why are you praying when you should be sleeping? Isn't that weird? Normally they're sleeping when they should be praying.
[2:54] But He says, you should be sleeping right now because we have a busy day tomorrow. Why are you fretting and worrying about this sea? Don't you know that I am the God of heaven? And He calms the sea, and we see His power over what, to you and I, would be the most powerful force in the world, something we can't do anything against, the natural world, the storms.
[3:13] But then He takes it even a step farther here where He's going to show His power over the supernatural. So people are having an encounter with Jesus, and they know they have to do something.
[3:24] They either have to submit, or they have to flee, or they have to get Him out of town. But it can't stay like it is. Because when they encounter God through the person of Jesus, there has to be a response.
[3:36] Eight chapters from where we're at right now, Jesus will turn and look at the disciples, and He will say, who do you say that I am? Are you going, and then He asks, you know, are you going to leave also?
[3:47] And He asks the questions like that. But right now, the demons have already been confronted. Demons, the tormented man, we call the maniac, the crowd of people in the city, and now you, what are you going to say that Jesus Christ is, and who is He?
[4:03] So first of all, let's look at this conversation in Matthew chapter number eight. And when He come to the other side of the country, the garrisons, where met Him, two possessed with devils coming out of the tombs, exceeding fear, so that no man might pass their way.
[4:16] And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time? So when He walks there, these two crazed men, they encounter Him, and the demon inside of the one speaks to Jesus.
[4:35] And the account given in Mark, Jesus asks Him, What is your name? And the man doesn't answer, but the demon inside of Him says, I am legion, which is to say, many, or a lot.
[4:46] And we know it's a lot, because in a moment, 2,000 demons are going to go into, or at least 2,000 pigs, swine, and it might have been more. So He says, a many. And so we have a conversation there, with the God of heaven, with the demon, that is inside of a man.
[5:03] And Jacob, if you wouldn't mind helping me by showing this picture that I took while I was part of the video there in India, how many of you recognize this guy in here?
[5:13] Alright? Those of you that have seen the India film, if you haven't, please get with me. I love to watch it with you and show it to you. I've only seen it 80 or 90 times, but I would love to watch it one more time with you.
[5:24] But this is a man that I sent across from, face to face, closer than you'd even imagine for recording purposes. I was right there and seeing this guy. He has bandages upon his arm because when he walks, he's very weak.
[5:40] And he expressed very clearly that you could get to God or you could get to the afterlife by many different ways. He was not crazy in the sense that he couldn't put together sentences.
[5:53] It didn't seem illogical in the way he structured his sentences, but he was very much demonic in the message that he was preaching which was a false gospel. Jim, and when Eric was there as well, there recently in India, they saw this group of sadhus again and they learned some things about them, those that put the ash of the people upon their face there and that they often fall down because their diet is made up of eating flesh of dead people, animal feces, drinking animal urine, and they live like that.
[6:25] That this man is absolutely tormented. When I spoke to this man this day, was I speaking to a demon, to a man? I don't know and I never will know. But if I was Jesus, Son of God, it would have been very obvious because he would have been much more uncomfortable in the conversation than I was.
[6:41] But this man is being tormented in his life of all the things that are going on there. His body shows these marks of being tormented. So we have a petition that is made here by these demons.
[6:53] They said, hey, don't we have more time? It isn't time right now they said that because they've been on a mission from the very beginning. Ever since they made a choice to go with Lucifer and with Satan, they have got on a mission even till this day.
[7:11] And I tell you that demons are real. It's not just an expression to say that this person was really, really bad. He acted like a demon. When my brother was about 8, I might have been 14. My brother ran away from home.
[7:23] He only got a few hundred yards before I tackled him because I didn't want to get in trouble with Mom when he came back. But he said, Mom, he said I was a demon. That's what I told him. I did say he was a demon because I thought he was a demon.
[7:34] But if I would have known, I would have known my brother wasn't a demon but he might have been possessed by a demon at that time. He really wasn't but that's how I felt. But we're not talking about a group of people that is progressively really bad.
[7:45] We're talking about people that are really demonized that were possessed by this power, by this demon. So here's a word of caution to you. People make two mistakes in considering demons and demon activity.
[7:58] Either they discount it and they think nothing of it or they become fascinated and too preoccupied with it. I studied this week some with David Dubois and we talked about that. It seems like there's either, there's a ditch on either side.
[8:10] Either we ignore it as it doesn't exist or you just become obsessed with it. So there's a word of caution there because all of us are interested in science fiction. Some of you in here, Evans, for example, like sci-fi, maybe more than I do.
[8:24] But we're all interested in it. A group of kids were at the house yesterday and Thatcher was having a birthday party and we were supposed to be doing science projects. And so we did a couple things and Thatcher said, that's magic.
[8:37] And we were talking afterwards and said, no, it's not magic. It's just science that you don't understand. That something is happening and you look at it and you say, I don't understand it so it's magic.
[8:48] And this demon world that we talk about, it is a science that we don't understand. It's something that has laws and orders and falls under authority. But when we read about it in the scripture, it's something we don't understand.
[9:01] But that doesn't mean that there isn't a set of guidelines and principles that it follows. And one of them is that they are under authority to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And their purpose is they operate in the world the day they achieve the purpose of Satan, which is to thwart the purposes of God.
[9:17] They are opposed to it. Whatever God is for, they are against Him. And everybody who is not a Christian belongs to them in a sense functioning under their dominating power.
[9:30] John 8 tells us that all unconverted are the children of the devil. 1 John tells us that all of humanity lies in the lap of the evil one. Ephesians 2 tells us that those that aren't believers are the children of wrath and their father is the father of lies and they're under that influence.
[9:46] 2 Corinthians 4 says the God of the world has blinded their eyes to an understanding. So it's very real. So on that day when Jesus came to the demons, the demons said, hey, I didn't think it was time yet.
[9:57] I thought we still had time to do what we were doing out in this world. Our end isn't here. It isn't time for you to torment us for all eternity. And the time hasn't come and they are still working today.
[10:09] And I don't know exactly how they all work today and things are different but I can tell you that they are good at what they do and they're working their purposes. It's interesting as I read one comment here it says you never see them working in Jerusalem.
[10:21] It's always in rural areas out farther away because it isn't that they're not working here in the city or not working here in America but they like to go incognito. They like to go in disguise.
[10:31] They're not looking to take credit. They would much rather you become found guilty of the crime than by them but they're hidden and they're working and the battle is with them. And we don't look to pictures like this guy in India for proof that demons are real.
[10:45] We look to the word of God and what it says. The Bible tells us that the angels are greater in power and might than in men. That's 2 Peter 2.11. Angels excel in strength it says in Psalm 103.
[10:57] So a question you might ask are these demons are these fallen angels that chose to go with Lucifer as opposed to God are they as powerful as the holy angels?
[11:08] Well we read a story in Daniel 10 where a holy angel was dispatched to bring a message from God to Daniel and a demon held him up for three weeks and God had to send Michael in to save them to break them loose.
[11:23] So we know they are powerful and we're reminded as we read through the New Testament that the fight you and I have is not in flesh and blood but it's in power here.
[11:34] We walk in the flesh we do not war after flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong coats. If you watch the video of after the police had taken Jake and John in and the churches were broke up there in Harbin and the message that was preached there in the church he was reminding them that we don't fight against the flesh and blood or the police officers or the government there is something much bigger going on in this world but we are equipped for it in Ephesians chapter number 6 we have a supernatural equipping with righteousness and faith and the power and truth to fight in this world so we don't deal with it in our own strength.
[12:14] If you need an example of it if you look at Acts chapter number 19 there is a guy that had seven sons of Sceva they were the offices of Sceva, Sceva, Sceva, Sceva, Sceva and Sceva exorcism and they went into a place and they had heard they had seen that Paul had cast out a demon with just a handkerchief and they wanted to get involved and not business and so they said we are going to go in and we are going to do this as well and the demon in the person looked at them and they said God we know or Jesus we know and Paul we know but we have no idea who you guys are and they ran out of there tormented or being gnashed upon and naked out of the room an example of people going after these in their own power and strength.
[12:56] For time's sake I won't show up but there is a video that was circulating of a congregation there in Africa and the guys performing an exorcism on a person and he lays his hands upon him and in doing so the guy gets he is on the ground and he is rolling around and the guy gets a phone call and he takes the phone call and he says you have got to wait a second there is an exorcism the preacher here has taken a demon out of me I am going to have to call you back in a second and then he hangs his phone up and he goes back to it and it is just the epitome of the mockery that is made around this thing of demons and exorcism and it is something that is played with and it is something that is used in marketing and Christianity and is nothing that we should play with or make light of so the demons here they recognized the authority they panicked when they saw Jesus coming they were not mocking him when they called him Jesus thou son of God they wouldn't dare make mockery of him they recognized him as Lord and Mark it says they fell upon their face James 2 tells us that when they see him they would tremble at his presence because they recognized the authority of our Lord and Savior
[14:05] Jesus Christ they knew his purpose in coming into this world back in Genesis we find that Satan thinks he takes hold upon humanity and brings them over to his side but he makes a promise he says I will come I will cross the head of the serpent I will bruise my heel and I will redeem my people I will take them back and in 1 John 3 it says for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil so those demons in those two men when they saw the Son of God they knew what his purpose was in this world and they panicked about it they knew that the power that he had in the Gospels there is a story where Jesus is casting out demons and some people say he must be of Satan he must be Satan because how could he have such power over these people if he was not on their team and Jesus said this isn't even logical he says how would Satan cast out Satan how would a kingdom be built if it was divided against itself but they were so amazed that he was able to do easily what they could not do at all and so in this story you should not be brought with awe or fear about demons they were only there for the purpose of showing the great power and authority of our great God and we know if you read a book or watch television you like to watch a boxing match go into many rounds and then it ends at the very end that is not what is happening here they are not an equal force they are not even a formidable foe against him they are nothing in his sight because he is the Lord of the universe and they recognize that the disciples won't know this they won't understand all that the demons know right now we don't have the book of Revelation humans watching don't know this about Jesus but the demons looking at them they said that is the Son of God that is the Lord of the universe that man has all authority and so in that sense they had wisdom that many humans do not they knew judgment was coming a time of torment and it is interesting here it is not a time of annihilation it is not a time they are going to disappear but they are saying we know that someday you are going to torment us eternally and that is what is taught here in the Bible is that there is a lake of fire prepared for them and at the end of time they will be cast in it and unbelievers as well and it was never prepared for them but it was prepared for the devil and his angels you might even joke here that they are good theologians pre-tribulational pre-millennial because they knew the time wasn't come yet they said it is a time for this we know we know a little bit that is going on here and they saw this and as Philippians 2 10 says one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess every one of you in this room and these demons all the way back there in history a time will come where their knee will bow and they are confessing and these people right now are confessing and they are falling on their knees right now because they recognize him as Lord and that is what happened in my life at the age of 9 when I realized that Jesus was the son of God
[17:19] I said I am not waiting until after I die to confess you are the Lord of the universe and to bow my knee and to worship you and I pray that you will not wait until it is too late so they entered into the pigs and Jesus said Matthew summarized in one word he just said go and they had to do it they had no choice in the matter the demons got the pigs as vehicles for their purpose but our God received another worshipper a servant who he would yield his life to as well so the demons went into the pigs they asked for permission and Jesus said sure you can go into these pigs and then they went into there and they drove themselves off the side of the hill and they drowned there and then now Jesus has a person a human that he cares for you all know Jim Roberts Sr.
[18:06] working in Voice of the Village has a real raspy voice I can't do it it would hurt my voice if they even tried but he says you know why God cared about the maniac of Guderia why did he matter so much why would God come through a storm in the middle of the night just to take a field trip to the other side of the water to get back on the boat and go to the other side when this man was crazy why did God care so much because he was a human is why God cared so much that God loves the human race he loves people and because of that he mattered so there is no group of people in the world in Brazil or in the picture of that man that we saw in India that doesn't matter to the God of heaven because they are what we call humans and God loves those people and he died for them and so there is a fight over humans that is where the battleground is for the hearts of men and we are involved in it in here and you can be involved in it if you are not today so first of all we saw the supernatural authority that he had authority over supernatural now we see his ability to change the maniacs you have never seen that before if we could have this man give his testimony the day every one of us would just probably fall to our face and praise to our holy God or you would fear and tremble and run out of the room knowing how great a God that we serve
[19:24] Ephesians 2 1-3 says it like this and you have the quickened who were dead in the trespasses and sins wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience of whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others so is any man a greater illustration of somebody that's dead and their sin being controlled by Satan than this story could you find anybody in any more of a stronghold in Mark we find that he stays naked in the cold time of year in the hot time of year he gnashes he marks upon himself no one controlled them they were deadly there in Matthew it said that they were at a certain part of town and nobody wanted to go near them because it was dangerous brother Chuck could you imagine listing a house or Miss Lisa it's a really nice community and you're going to get a really good deal on this house but if you get too close to this one road two naked men are going to run down the hill and they may gnash upon you with their teeth it doesn't do much for home pricing if you have a couple guys like this around nobody would go near them we learn in
[20:41] Mark as well or in Luke chapter number eight that they have been bound on several occasions with chains and fetters and they would break them off with the strength there of those demons and they would run into the desert these are more than crazy these are demonized men they are an absolute hopeless case to the point that people said all we can do with them is chain them up but that isn't going to work so the best thing we can do is ignore them we will give them their cave and we will stay away from them but they are by definition completely hopeless nobody could care for them he was a dead man walking his life was being used for the purposes of Satan and that we saw there in Ephesians that they were they were deserving of the wrath of God but it said like the rest of us that they were deserving of the rest of the wrath of God not just specially different than most of us but they were just like you and I and they deserved the wrath of God that was there and this is where
[21:44] God finds all of us but it isn't where he desires to leave any of us when he found this man he found the man that had been used and taken a human that was for the purposes of Satan opposed the God that was the enemy of God and he changed his life you know when you met Jesus you came as an enemy of God it doesn't matter if you were in North Korea Saudi Arabia communist China or the good old southern part of America there's only two options you're either the enemy of God or you've been made a child of God and you were deserving of the wrath that was coming to you or deserving of the wrath that is still coming to you if you have not seen him as Lord and Savior and so Jesus here his ability to change the maniac he reclaimed the original purpose I said earlier that this isn't a formidable foe against Jesus this isn't UFC fighting that goes on and on it says in Luke 11 20 to show us his power it says but if I with the finger of God cast out devils no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you how can we measure God's strength of that of the devils is that with the finger of God he was able to overcome them wow what a powerful God that we serve what a God of absolute authority in this world we have been reclaimed and redeemed
[23:11] Romans 3 24 being justified freely by the grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus the word redemption is used because we were born into this world as sinners we have been claimed by Satan for his purposes in this world we had yielded our members over for these things that we were against the purposes of God we were against worshiping him and we worshiped ourselves and he redeemed us and he brought us back to our original purpose what ultimate torment it must be for a man whose life is twisted his soul is twisted to be used against the God that he was created to serve he was a completely 180 against what God had had for him so have you counted somebody out God cannot help them if they're a human then they have been created for a greater purpose if God is alive there is still power to overcome the wicked one is there somebody in your life that you just think is too far gone that you say my strength against them isn't anything they are too intellectual against my arguments they are too bent towards this thing of the world they too desire the sinful things nothing can happen in their life and can I tell you if
[24:24] God who is still alive is alive then there is power to change it because he has authority even over the supernatural and we should watch and see God change the life of maniacs the demons presence in the world is not yet gone the fight is not over one of my favorite passages passages in Ephesians 3 Tim and I mention it often is that they are learning of the wisdom of God by watching our church so not only are demons still alive and they are working their purposes and the time still hasn't yet come that they are put in eternal torment but right now it says to intent now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God that the demons of this world watch this morning and they watch the way we live our lives and we care for one another that we share the gospel despite persecution and they learn something not about how wonderful and great we are but they learn something about the manifold wisdom of God does that not take vacation
[25:25] Bible school and Kool-Aid and cookies and all the things that we're going to do to a level that's far beyond anything else that we could do with our time to know that these powers and heavenly places would look down upon this church and say I learned something about the manifold wisdom of God how we care for one another how we sacrifice so no one is so far gone that God cannot change their lives except for those who have a life that they do not want changing he allows for us a choice you hear that there nobody is so far gone but then I said except because he has given man a free will to make a choice as in that day when the devil the demons made a decision will you stay and worship God or will you go with Lucifer they made a decision that sealed their fate forever and you're making a decision in your 75 years of life that will be sealed forever sometimes people ask will the demons get another chance because maybe they would have a if they had another chance they would do something different or in the bible they wouldn't choose anything differently but you don't get another chance either you have this vanishing moment of time to make a decision that will stay with you for all eternity and so can you imagine the audacity the shamelessness and their ability to reject
[26:42] Jesus verse 34 and behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him they besought that he would depart out of their coast the people responded with panic it was a phobia that's being said here that they wanted nothing to do with him they were taken with the great fear of the savior Jesus will get on a boat and go to the other side of the sea there and people will be waiting for him they'll be bringing people to him to be healed they're looking at him and they see his power but on this side here over in the gentile territory where there's two maniacs that were found where the tension is put upon the one man we find in Matthew there's two but in Luke and Mark the tension is upon the one man those people come out so Jesus comes there they all know about the guy he changes he has the ability to change the guy he takes the demons out of and puts them into the swine they run themselves into the lake the people watching the pigs run into town and they tell everybody about it the people come and they come to Jesus where the decision is made we don't see them going to look at the pigs the decision that was being made was about
[27:49] Jesus and when they look at Jesus they say you have to get out of here this is our home this is where we're staying we would flee from you but we need you out of here a phobia a panic of him as I read I see two different options of why it happened and good men have been divided upon it and both seem very reasonable first of all option number one is that the demons when they asked to go upon the pigs the pigs when they asked to go into the demons they had a plan when the demons said send us into these pigs when they got into those pigs they did a swine dive off the side of the cliff you knew I wasn't going to leave off any puns here and so they swine dive off the side of these cliffs and when they do that the people in the town came and they might have looked upon Jesus and they said you have ruined our economy you have cost these men a lot of money and because of that they hated it they had a love over material things compared to the savior of the universe and that seems probable doesn't it because we know how much people love their things and we know how much
[28:55] Jonah could love a gourd and we know how much we love our material things over time with the lord of the universe but also in what I would lean towards here it was not about the pigs that didn't accept them the direction I would lead is that they were in fear of the fact of his holiness when when unholy men face a holy god they are in terror when Luke chapter number 5 verse 8 Peter says depart from me because I am a sinful man we had a contrast the light and the darkness as you pick up a rock and everything underneath that rock runs back to the darkness these people they saw the holiness of God and they panicked because they said you did something with this man that we couldn't even make any difference in the Lord Jesus is either loved or hated when the truth is presented and these people chose to hate him and want him out of their country the maniac is more different than the people in his town than ever before think about that he is still different he went from being the maniac in chains but at least he was serving the same purposes that they were but now he is possessed by the
[30:04] God of heaven and he is completely different than those people in his town he is still possessed by something they do not understand the world is really comfortable with pigs and maniacs but it is not comfortable with Jesus Christ they are not comfortable with the son of God this world would crucify Jesus today if he came and allowed them to do so so why is it that we would expect that we should be treated as anything else than unaccepted so there is an assignment given here to him so our brother maniac in Luke chapter number 8 it says that he goes and gets on the ship with Jesus and now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him but Jesus sent him away brother maniac just hops upon the boat and he says where are we going Jesus I am with you after what you did in my life I am going to stick with you I am going to follow you and it seems to make sense the disciples sitting there are like alright we got another guy our brother maniac here is going to go with us and Jesus tells him
[31:05] I need you to go back and be a witness among those Christ rejecting people he said I have a desire to be with him which is in Mark 3 14 what he called the disciples to be with him to be mentored and that is found among all true believers if when you met Jesus whatever age you were if he was getting on a boat that day you would have got on that boat and you would have said where are we going or you might not even needed to know where are you going because it was whom you were traveling with it is a natural response to believers to want to get on the boat and to follow Jesus would anybody be any more excited about the coming of the Holy Spirit than this man so on that day Jesus said brother maniac we got to leave you behind because we're on a mission in this world and there's a whole town full of people that used to know you were crazy and you're not and I need you to be a witness here among these people and we are going to leave and he turned around that day as a missionary to the
[32:06] Gentiles the only one that knew the son of God like he did a group of people that had just rejected them and he goes around talking about how wonderful God is but he had to see Jesus leaving a boat but just in a matter of a couple years or less Jesus Christ will ascend into heaven and the Holy Spirit will come and there will never be a decision again between Jesus getting on the boat and those going with him that he stayed Jesus would stay and he would go in the Holy Spirit Mark tells us in chapter 16 verse 20 so then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up in the heaven and sat on the right hand of God and they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord working with them confirming the words with signs and followings you know as Mark and Natasha in a couple months head back to China and they had to make a decision Jesus is going back to China there is no way that I would be able to stay here but because he is able to go with Mark and able to continue doing the work that he is doing preaching everywhere working through him and he also stays here as well as we continue to share the gospel with a group of people that have rejected him because
[33:15] Christ rejecters need a witness notice that he was sent to a place of need the missions is not just about geography it's about going to people that need it in that moment it wasn't a boat that was needed it was staying that was needed because there was people and that's where God sends people he sends them to a place of need he sends them to a place where there aren't people that know about him and that's why here where we're at we send people all around the world because when we do a little glance upon the world and we look at it we see there's big pockets of people that have rejected Jesus Christ or never heard about them so we send them there to share the gospel and you may see here that this is not a good line or an excuse to get out of work so when you say I don't need to go to China because there's plenty to be done here there's plenty of people that don't know about Jesus well that's true but that is not an excuse not to go do a work that's an excuse to get busy where you're at an excuse like that and a statement to say there's so many people here that have rejected Jesus they need to hear the gospel that is not an excuse to get out of work that is an indictment upon us to get busy about a work and we just simply see a default setting something pastor talks about a default setting is this go
[34:31] I now know the gospel where do I need to go he got still turned around he said I'm going here and just said you need to go but you need to go in that direction towards those people who have never heard so they had wholesale rejected him but he had not wholesale rejected them he left them a witness the whole town came out and made a decision you're going to leave we don't read of any objection Jesus we want you to leave this place we do not want you here and when Jesus turns to that maniac and he says I want you to stay here Jesus is saying even though you may reject me I don't reject you and by my grace I'm going to leave you a witness God still loved these humans he still loved these people he left them an example he had crossed the stormy sea not to be a missionary but to make a missionary out of a maniac so they will have a witness of who he is who tells Jesus no when he says go who does that the demons don't do that the same maniac doesn't do that they're
[35:36] Christ rejecting people of the town they would not only say no to him but they would tell Jesus that he should leave the demons would not do that brother maniac would never do that the unbelievers would do that they told Jesus to go can you imagine the audacity of people that would tell Jesus to leave their town it may be that we live in a city that would tell Jesus to leave and the audacity of it the God of heaven has said go and those who see him as Lord obey even the demons only humans who have been given a free will would tell the God of heaven you are not wanted in our town God has commissioned you to either get off the boat here or go tell people what he has done in your life on the other side of the sea or maybe the day you will see that a boat is needed to get you to the place that you're going so the day you either get off this boat and you go into a world that needs to hear about you and you live like the maniacs of Alpharetta that know that we were once enemies of God but now he has changed us and he left us here for a purpose to be a witness to Christ rejecting people or you get on a boat and you go take the gospel the people that have never heard it but there's no middle ground and the only middle ground the only people that would say no it isn't the demons even it's not the believers it's those
[36:56] Christ rejecting people what are you doing to see God's agenda accomplished in this world and in this city if your life is not given to his purposes in this world then you are a weapon that can and will be used by the opposition if you are not sharing the gospel and allowing him to work in your life then know that you are working with the opposition to make Jesus not known in this community he loves to do that the demons love to throw themselves off the side of a cliff so people would have a confused image of who Jesus is and say you destroyed our pigs in China he loves eastern lightning Satan loves this cult that goes around talking about the things of God who recently killed somebody in an area if God can't be known that's what he prefers but if they're going to start talking about Jesus he's going to flood the market with people that are preaching a false gospel that cause confusion so how does the demon work here in the southeast how is the power of Satan working he loves to create a false confusing gospel that people readily accept that inoculate them from hearing the true gospel and that's what we fight against we fight with truth against the false gospel in this city for the souls of men so I have some conclusions here for you today unbeliever the demons the people of the area the demoniacs had to face the question who is
[38:20] Jesus and it's a question you have to face today who is Jesus does he have authority in your life will you recognize him as Lord will you tell Jesus to leave your life that you have no room for him in your life does his holiness scare you it should but he offers you an exchanged life when you fear and tremble knowing he is holy and you are so unholy you are at a wonderful place for him to work in your life because he offers you an exchange he offers to die upon he died upon the cross for your curse of sin now I know I'm speaking to mostly believers in here and ask you this as the maniac of Gadara never stopped being a maniac he just changed who is possessed by does Alpharetta have any maniacs does it have any people that are controlled by the spirit that go about the purposes of God who say I don't care if I'm in a town full of people that reject Jesus Christ I am to an blaze a trail speaking of what he has done in my life telling people what he has done about you
[39:25] Satan knows the life of a human is a powerful tool for his purpose do you recognize that every kid who comes to vacation Bible school has incredible potential to make a real and meaningful difference in this world and we fight for them we fight the demons of this world for those children and we fight with truth and we fight with love and we ask the God of heaven we get up on our knees and we pray to God and say God I'm going to serve in my church tonight I'm going down the road to meet some kids and would you work through me so that I can tell these kids about the gospel because I promise you if we don't care about them there are so many other forces and groups in this community that do care about them that want to take them and weaponize them for the things of Satan and for this world but we must fight for them knowing we have Jesus working with us and he has all power what are you waiting for he has power over even the supernatural we have a bunch of talented people signing up for vacation
[40:28] Bible school but all of us collectively don't get anywhere near close the resource that we have and the fact that the God of heaven is working through us and he has power over the supernatural so who tells Jesus no the demons even recognize that he is Lord and that he has authority because they have already made their decision the brother maniac here God said go and he just went because he would never question the authority of our Lord and Jesus Christ but as humans we have been given a free will and I ask you to look at the audacity of rejecting the God of heaven and telling him that there is no place for you in my life and we live in a city full of people that would ask him to leave but we stay here and we go about telling them what he has done in our lives praying that their hearts will be changed let's pray together heavenly father we thank you for such clear understanding of your authority in this world
[41:30] I confess to you that I live often times feeling powerless to make any difference in this city when I wonder if we'll have any strength that can come against all the opposition to the gospel Lord I don't want to look in myself but I look to you and the Holy Spirit that lives inside of me to do a wonderful thing I pray that every believer in here would say yes to you and going and that there's someone in here today Lord that if they would say no to you they would recognize that that is not the heart of a believer that believers want to follow you and we go where you tell us to go and we do what you tell us to do because we see you as Lord this message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred Georgia for more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings