A Restored Mind

In MARK’S GOSPEL, CHAPTER 5, is recorded the incident of JESUS AND THE DEMONIAC, or THE MAN WHO WAS POSSES-

SED WITH THE LEGION; and a Legion in the Roman army was

6,000 men.

Now Matthew and Luke see Two Men and Mark only deals with One. And the theologians tell me that Mark’s is the Middle Person. And so, consequently, he is dealing with the Stronger of the two demoniacs.

Jesus encountered him as He went to the land of Gadara. And so, the man is possessed, spends a lot of time away from everybody and cuts himself. Hu runs unto Jesus, and Jesus goes to meet him, and Changes His Life.

I want to pick up at VERSE 15 because the others in town came to see Jesus, and they came to see him "who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed in HIS RIGHT MIND. And they were afraid."

I want to talk about: "A RESTORED MIND."

It is interesting to have a Whole Side of You that is Not Tapped: that’s Your Spiritual Side. And we’ve live so long simply dealing with the Intellect and the Flesh, the Sensual and Intellectual Side, that a Whole Side of Us Goes Untapped; and that’s Our Spiritual Side.

It is significant to be Spiritual if you’re going to Survive; because somehow when you’re spiritual, your Strength is not tied into your Circumstances or Situations or Controlling People; because something moves within you that is not measured to you by others, but is measured to you by God.

It is significant to understand that, because THE FIRST THING THAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS MAN WAS HE LOST HIS SELFHOOD.

Selfhood is actually more Spiritual than it is Communal -Selfhood. If I am an Individual, then I’m not going to please you all the time; because my Individualistic Quality is going to Seaprate Me from You.

I have to make an effort to close to you when I Understand Who I Am; because once I see with the right eyes Who I Am, then you may or may not suit me. You follow what I mean? This is demonstrated in Verse 15. Because when He Comes To Himself, Folk Get Afraid! Before they tried to bind; they didn’t try to Change Him!

I want to point out to you that oftentimes that Side of us that is so Untapped, becomes the ASPECT OF RIDICULE FOR US, when we decide to Become More Spiritual when it deals with Meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we have decided is our avenue to God.

Religion has often become the Laughingstock for the Sciences. The more intellectuals decide that those of us who want to be Spiritual, become Something to Laugh At. I’ll give you an example: Its alright for me to spend my money on drugs, but then I’m foolish if I decide to Tithe; because sometimes, people associate Spirituality and the enjoyment of Spiritual Experiences as Crazy or Ridiculous. Anytime I step outside of what is decided by you as normal for me and decide to go down a path into understanding who I am separate from you, all of a sudden, I become a Laughingstock; simply because I want for me what you haven’t decided is important to you and your group! All of a sudden, I am relegated to be less than the group. Its either I am what you want me to be or I am nothing at all. It seems as if the intellect says, "Be anything but Spiritual!" Its as if there’s real fulfillment or rationality in anything but God!

But I’m here to say that if I know God, I know Myself! If I don’t know God, I’m Disconnected from Myself! Because God has a way of Challenging me more than anything that I have anything to do with.

God brings me in face with me, and forces me to ask myself, ’Why am I here?’

Dallas Williard said: "Given our cultural context, it is all too easy to believe that the spiritual life may be a life opposed to the body. So the idea is widespread that you can only really be spiritual after you are dead." Many do believe that you can only be spiritual after you are dead.

But, you see, its the Spiritual Man who decides Where He’s Going In His Life. The Sensual Man is already tied into the Impulses that flow from his Circumstances. And so, now he then lives with the vicissitudes and fluxions of his circumstances. As they move up and down, he moves up and down. Because he’s not spiritual enough to control his destiny, he has to go with the flow of his environment!

You see, World-Changers are not people who flow with you when you flow. They flow, it seems, on an independent cycle, running on a different wave. Because Movers and Shakers have to be Connected