Bye Bye Satan

We have been hearing a lot of gloom and doom these days and while this is somewhat true, I want to bring you a message of victory and hope this morning. I am using our gospel reading for today which goes like this:

"Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee."

As you can see, the setting of this story was in a Synagogue at Capernaum where Jesus was teaching the congregation. Today, that would be similar to a Church like ours. Guess who the attendees were? ……. Yes, you guessed right, intermingled with the people was an evil spirit!! In case you didn’t know, the devil often visits churches too and has no problem participating in worship. He will come but never surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

I shared this illustration with you long time ago ….

It is about a time when Satan barged into Church while the service was going on. The terrified congregants ran out along with the Priest but one brave man stood his ground. This baffled the devil so he asked, “aren’t you not afraid of me; don’t you know who I am?” Sure “I do” said the man, “I have been married to your sister for 20 years!”

Anyways, you get my point. Satan also comes to Church. There are two things I want to highlight from our gospel reading and the first one is:

1)Jesus has ultimate authority

Friends, the closer you get to God, the more certain it is that the evil spirit will seek to get you. Long before any of us walked into Church this morning, the evil one was already here waiting for us. He knows this is the place to find us. So while we are worshipping God, he will get busy doing what he does best. He will distract your mind so that he takes you away from worship. You may be singing a hymn or looking at the Preacher but miles away in thought. Some go through worship as a ritual rather than using it as an opportunity to surrender to our Lord, fill our hearts with his presence, feed on his word and break bread together in gratitude of what he has done for us. Church should be a place where we drop off our sorrows and grief and pick up grace and mercy. But, Satan will do his best to see that it never happens. If you drop your guard he might even jump in the car and go home with you. He has only one goal and the bible puts it this way: “the thief only comes to steal to kill and to destroy but I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly”

I am sure all of you will easily identify with me about using nick names for people. We have real names but we give names to those around us and most of the time it is not to insult someone but it is more as a means of affection and describes who they are. Some are called “pork chops” “long legs” “butter beans” or even flat butt (which was the nickname for my dad).

In like manner, the Canaanites had many names for their Gods. But the name “The Most High God” was the God who was above all others. The Israelites loved that name so much that they adopted it for themselves and chose to affectionately refer to the Father as the “Most High God” aka Elyon.

Likewise when we are affectionate to our God and put him first and above all things, be assured that he will always have your back and fight for you. We have no need to fear the evil one because greater is the one that is within you that the one who is in the world. Just like Jesus sent away the evil spirit at the Synagogue that day, he will send him far away from you. Not only that in the coming days he will send him away forever to the bottomless pit. Friends when you are a child of the Most High God, no weapon formed against you will prosper and no one can pluck you from the palm of Gods hands. Psalm 20 says “some put their trust in Chariots and some in horses but we put our trust the name of our God.” Whom do you trust my friends? Have you been leaning on his everlasting arms?