Oct 22, 2000 Luke 8:27-39
“Nightmare on Johnson Ave.”
INTRODUCTION
A very wealthy man bought a huge ranch in Arizona and he invited some of his closest associates in to see it. After touring some of the 1500 acres of mountains and rivers and grasslands, he took everybody to the house. The house was as spectacular as the scenery, and out back was the largest swimming pool you have ever seen. However, this gigantic swimming pool was filled with alligators. The rich owner explained this way: "I value courage more than anything else. Courage is what made me a billionaire. In fact, I think that courage is such a powerful virtue that if anybody is courageous enough to jump in that pool, swim through those alligators and make it to the other side, I’ll give them anything they want, anything--my house, my land, my money." Of course, everybody laughed at the absurd challenge and proceeded to follow the owner into the house for lunch. . . .when they suddenly heard a splash. Turning around they saw this guy swimming for his life across the pool, thrashing at the water, as the alligators swarmed after him. After several death defying seconds, the man made it, unharmed to the other side. Our rich host was absolutely amazed, but he stuck to his promise. He said, "You are indeed, a man of courage and I will stick to my word. What do you want? You can have anything--my house, my land, my money-just tell me what you want and it is yours." The swimmer, breathing heavily, looked up at the host and said, "I just want . . . one thing—[I want to know] who pushed me in that pool?" - Dr. Charles Garfield
We all have things that we fear, and there’s probably a name for each of our fears. Mysophobia is fear of "dirt." Hydrophobia is fear of "water." Nyclophobia is the fear of "darkness." Acrophobia is fear of "high places." Taxophobia is fear of being "buried alive." Xenophobia is fear of "strangers." Necrophobia is fear of the "dead." Claustrophobia is fear of "confined places." Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the "number 13." Or maybe your fear is something like one I heard of that even occurs in the animal kingdom. In the days of the Roman coliseum, a young Christian was thrown into the arena where the hungry lion was waiting. The lion pounced on the man, but instead of defending himself, the Christian whispered something in the lion’s ear. The lion immediately jumped back and wouldn’t go near the Christian. Overcome by his curiosity, the emperor had the young man brought to him and asked him what he whispered in the lion’s ear. Here’s what the man whispered, “After dinner, you will be required to say a few words.”
A little girl was in bed - scared of the dark. She went into her parent’s room and told her mother she was afraid. Her mother said, "It’s OK, sweetheart. There’s nothing to be afraid of, God is in there with you." The little girl went back to her bed and as she climbed into bed she said, "God, if you’re in here, don’t you say a word, you’ll scare me to death." - Charles Lowery, "Falling Isn’t That Bad," SBC Life, Sept. 1997, p. 15
When our family was in Virginia a couple of weeks ago, Victoria got to playing with her female cousins, and they were having a fantastic time scaring one another and making one another come screaming down the hall at the top of their lungs in those high pitched screams that only little girls have. There is something about fear that makes us run away from it, but then there is something about it that draws us closer. Monday night, someone in the church was gracious enough to watch our kids for a few hours so that Tammy and I could go on a date. We went out to eat, and then we went to a movie. Just behind us in line was a gentleman by himself. I overheard him request one ticket for the “Exorcist”. First of all, I would never go see the “Exorcist”. Secondly, even if I ever did, I would never go by myself! Hollywood continues to put out movies like “Friday the 13th”, “Scream”, “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “I know what you did last summer” and “Scary Movie” because of our desire to get scared at the movies. Maybe we figure that if we laugh at death, then we won’t have to admit that death really does scare us. It has been more than 35 years since Janet Leigh saw herself on the screen in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film Psycho. After viewing the famous shower scene, in which she was repeatedly stabbed, Leigh was seized with an overwhelming and lasting terror. "I stopped taking showers, and even now I take baths," she says. In fact, when the actress stays in a hotel or at a friend’s home where only a shower is available, she panics. "I make sure the doors and windows of the house are locked," she says, "and I leave the bathroom door and shower curtain open. I’m always facing the door, watching, no matter where the shower head is." - Reader’s Digest, November, 1995, p. 7
This is the season of fear. The closer we get to Halloween, and the darker it gets at night time, the more it seems that the wind, and shadows and little noises during the night scare us. This morning, I want us to look at the record of an event that happened in the life of Jesus – an event that revolves around fear. It is the record of a man who was possessed by demons but who found freedom from those demons through the power of Jesus. As we speak of demons this morning, I’m going to be referring to them on two different fronts. I believe with all my heart that there are literal demons that inhabit this world. The man that we will speak of was inhabited by servants of Satan. We will speak of demons in this way. But I will also speak of demons in the sense of those things which are sinful which we allow to control us and prevent us from being the victorious soldiers of Jesus that we could be. This event is such a powerful one that it is recorded in 3 places in the Bible – Matt.8, Mark 5, and Luke 8. We will be using Luke 8 as our main passage today if you want to turn there. Since each of these places record some details that the others do not, I have included parts of the other passages on the back of your note sheet. This morning, I want us to see that when we have Jesus in our lives, and when we are walking in obedience to Him, then we have no reason to fear. But I also want us to see that living without Jesus is the scariest experience that you will ever have.
1. The description of a man without Jesus is scary. (vs. 27,29)
NOTE: One item that I need to point out to you and offer explanation for before we get into this event is that Mark and Luke speak of only one demonpossessed man, but Matthew says that there were two. The best explanation for this is that there were two men there, but one of them was the spokesman or perhaps the more violent or the oldest. Having said that, let’s look at how the Bible describes his character. Pay close attention to the way that this man is described. The practice of witchcraft and the incidence of demon possession is on the rise in our nation and especially in our schools and universities and even on our military bases. I believe that you will find the practices and character which this man showed are also seen in those who refuse God’s control over their lives and give over control to sin. See if you recognize any of these in yourself or in those that you know.
- his character
extreme violence “so violent” (Mat. 8:28) – this demon-possessed man was so violent that he prevented anyone from coming into the area where he was. In fact, the probable reason that he approached Jesus and His disciples on that day was not just for a friendly introduction. The text says that he “met” Jesus there on the shore of the sea. From what else the text tells about his actions, he probably came running out of the hills toward Jesus, with his arms flailing, screaming all the way with the intent of doing harm to Jesus and those with Him. He wasn’t interested in making a new friend. He was only interested in keeping Jesus away or doing violence to Him. In another passage that talks about the violence of those who are possessed by demons, 7 men were beat up by one demon-possessed man. (Acts 19:16 NIV) Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. I remember that in one of the news reports that I saw about one of the school shootings in the past few years, the young boy who did the killing said that he did it because voices in his head – voices that were not his own – told him to go out and kill. I’m not trying to say that all extreme violence is a result of demon-possession. But all of it is a result of allowing sin to control your thoughts and actions and the constant flow of violent images through the medias that they watch and the examples that they see in the home. The more that a child or an adult is exposed to violence, the more likely they are to respond with violence to situations that they face. What images to you put into your mind? What images do you allow your children to see?
intense suffering “night and day . . . cry out” (Mark 5:5) – It must have been an awful thing to try and get children to sleep in the nearby town. Every night, you would hear the sound of that crazy man as he howled out in pain. The sound of his cries would echo through the hills and send a chill up your spine every time that you heard it. Can you imagine what it would be like to be inhabited by a spirit other than your own? Now try imagining being inhabited by thousands of different spirits. The suffering of all the different voices in your head, tormenting you day in and day out, telling you to do things that you knew were wrong, driving you away from the people and things that could bring comfort and help to you. Those cries that he hollered out were cries for help for someone to come and alleviate his suffering. But there was no one there to hear – no one that understood or was willing to overcome their fear and reach out to him in love. You ever been there? Crying out for help, but no one comes to your rescue because they think they don’t know how to help, so they just run away in fear. Jesus heard this man’s cries. He came to help. Jesus hears your cries.
self-destructive “cut himself” (Mark 5:5) – Why did he cut himself? Maybe the demons living within him told him to do it. They were not interested in his welfare. All that they wanted to do was to inflict as much pain on him and his world as they could. He entered into a life of sin thinking that it would be fun and fulfilling, but all it ended up doing is leading him toward destruction. That’s what it will do in your life too. It will destroy you. Maybe he cut himself to find a way to end his life. He had suffered for too long. The only way that he knew to end the suffering was to end his life. But the demons wouldn’t even allow that. They were having too much fun torturing him. Maybe he cut himself because he was trying to get at the demons living within him. In his desperate, crazed state, he thought that if he cut deep enough, through his own efforts, he could get at the demons, destroy them or at least get them out. That sounds crazy – dealing with a spiritual problem through physical means. But we try to do it too. We try to deal with a drug problem through administering more drugs. We try to deal with an alcohol problem through therapy. We try to deal with a weight problem through dieting. We try to earn a place in heaven by being good here on earth. I believe with all my heart that the reason we can’t seem to find solutions to our problems whether they be in our own hearts, our families, our nation, or our world is because we’re looking to solve spiritual problems through physical, or emotional means. We’re going to end up destroying ourselves.
dangerously exposed “not worn clothes” (Luke 8:27) – We don’t know how long “for a long time” is. It may have been months, or it may have been years. But I imagine that during that time, this man had faced some bad weather – cold, rain, storms. Clothes are for modesty, but they are also for protection. Imagine facing the cold winds of winter time or the hot rays of the sun in the summer with no clothes to protect your skin. This man was dangerously exposed. He had no protection to keep him safe. He was vulnerable. There are a lot of people – even Christians – who are walking around spiritually naked. The Bible talks about putting on the armor of God. (Eph 6:11-13 NIV) Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, . . . The reason this man was in this position in the first place was because he had not put on spiritual armor. His lack of physical clothing reflected the fact that without Jesus’ righteousness and the protection of the armor that He provided, He was open to attack. What he showed on the outside was evidence of what was going on in the heart. Without the spiritual armor of God’s truth and faith and righteousness and God’s Word - the Bible, we too are vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and his forces in our own lives.
superhuman ability “broken his chains” (Luke 8:29) – One of the lures of the demons of today is the promise of abilities that no one else has – the ability to go where no one else can go. Right now, you cannot sit in front of the TV very long before you will see one of these ads for those who claim to know all about you and be able to tell you the future either by reading tarot cards or through their own personal psychic ability. Some of the persons that do that kind of thing are just really good guessers who know people well enough to be able to read things in their voices and pick up on clues. But others of them are the real McCoy – they really do know things about you that no one else knows. The reason that they know those things is because they are relying on demons to tell them. There are demons that follow Satan and then there are demons of our own making you know. There’s the demon of alcohol and drugs. They promise the superhuman ability of getting rid of all your problems and all your pain. There’s the demon of success that promises you the superhuman ability of making you someone. There’s the demon of money that promises you that you can have whatever you want. These demons may fulfill their promises for a while, but the things we thought we wanted will come back to bite us in the end. Maybe the demons that inhabited this man promised him great strength in return for control of his life. They fulfilled their promise, but the cost was a lot higher than he thought he was going to have to pay.
spiritually imprisoned “driven by the demon” (Luke 8:29) – The latter part of vs 29 talks about the fact that though he had been shackled with chains many times, he had broken free from the chains that held him every time. No chain could restrain him, no guard could keep him from escaping. He had what he thought he had always wanted – freedom. When he was growing up, he, like many of you kids and teenagers maybe have, had hated being always told what to do. He wanted to do things his own way in his own time. He may have said like our children have said to us, “I’ll be glad when I get to be an adult and can do whatever I want to do.” When he was an adult, he didn’t like the constraints that his wife and kids put on him, so he decided to be a free man and explore what it would be like to have other women be a part of his life. And he didn’t like the constraints, the chains, that his religion put on him, so he just chunked all that. From his perspective, he was free. But it was only the illusion of freedom. Though he broke the chains made of iron, he couldn’t break the control that the demons had on him. He didn’t choose to go out into the wilderness. He was driven there. His supposed freedom was simply giving over control of his life to sin rather than to God.
The Bible says that we will never be free men in the sense that we have the right and ability to control our own destiny. We are either a slave to sin and Satan or a slave to righteousness and God. (Rom 6:16 NIV) Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Someone might say, “I’m no one’s slave. I’m my own man.” Jesus had a conversation with the Jewish leaders one day in which He said that He could set them free with the truth. They responded, “What need do we have of freedom? We are not slaves and have never been slaves.” Jesus response in (John 8:34 NIV) Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. We will always be slaves. That is not in question. The only question is whether we are going to choose a master whose only desire is to destroy us or a Master who’s only desire is to love us and make us more like Himself. It is not a bad thing to be a slave.
When I was growing up, I used to love to spend a Saturday afternoon out on the hillside near our house flying kites. My brother and I would send those kites as high in the sky as we could. Just to make things interesting, we would have dog fights with the kites and try to collide them into one another. Each roll of string that we had for our kites would allow that kite to go 250 ft into the air. But we weren’t satisfied with that, so when we reached the end of one roll, we would tie another roll onto that one and so on and so on. I remember that one time, I had five rolls of string tied together. The kite was over 1000 ft in the air. It was so small that I could barely see it. The only problem with using up all the string on a roll was that the manufacturers would not tie the end of the string to the roll that it was wound up on. If I let the kite go up too fast, I might forget that fact, and before I knew it, the string would go flying off the roll, and my kite would go out of control. The very thing that holds the kite to earth is what keeps it in the sky. Cut the string, and what will happen to the kite? It will fall. But the string, which seems to bind it, allows it to fly. We are all bound to someone. We choose who we are going to be bound to. This man chose to break free of the binds that held him to God and chose rather to bind himself to sin and Satan. He suffered the consequences. He fell.
- his home (vs. 27)
not in the town of his origin “from the town” – He used to live in the city that was nearby. He was born there. He grew up there. All his friends were there. There was probably nothing that unusual about him. He was just like every other person there. That sounds like what some of the students said about the gunmen who opened fire in the school shootings of the last few years. There was nothing all that unusual about them from outward appearances. But they made choices and responded wrongly to things that happened in their lives. Normal people who went bad. It’s easy for us to say that it wouldn’t be me, or it couldn’t happen to my child, but it could. No family is immune. How does it happen? It happens one little step at a time.
The Saturday evening that my family was coming back from Virginia, we stopped off at a mall around Beckley to get dinner. As we were walking through the mall, we saw a group of teenagers. They were all gathered around a girl who had just bought something at one of the stores. She pulled her new toy out of the bag. It was a Oija board. It’s just a toy, she’s just a teenager from a WV town, nothing evil could come of it. Right?
None of is immune because the Bible says that all of us are sinners. We are all capable of unthinkable evil. The person sitting next to you, barring the work of Jesus Christ in their lives, is capable of being a mass murderer. This man was “from the town” – one of the boys – but the decisions that he had made caused the boys to throw him out of the town.
not in the house of his family “in a house” – The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about this man’s family. We don’t know if he was married or if he had children. But we know that he had parents. He had friends. He had people who loved him. They probably lived in the nearby town. But this man hadn’t been home for a long, long time. He hadn’t been able to enjoy the home cooking of his mother. He hadn’t been able to experience the hug of his kids, or the caress of his wife. His only companions were the demons that inhabited him and the other man there who was just as crazy as he was. None of his present companions could give him love; they could only give him torture. He was living a life that was empty of love.
in the place of the dead “in the tombs” – What would it be like to be buried alive? I heard a missionary tell once of a woman who was being buried by the South American tribe that he was working with. When he saw the woman in the burial box that they had constructed, to his horror, he realized that she was still breathing. He tried to convince the tribal leaders that she was just in a coma which prevented her from responding to outside stimulus, but they would not listen. So they lowered her still breathing body into the grave and covered her over with dirt. What a way to die, especially if she had still been conscious! Can you imagine what it would be like?! [screaming] “Help! Get me out of here! I’m alive! It’s dark in here! Get me out! Get me out!” This man was a walking dead man. He was buried, suffocated underneath the sin and the forces of Satan that had accumulated in his life. When Adam and Eve sinned, they became walking dead men. God said, “On the day you eat of it, you will surely die.” Because of their sin, they were condemned and destined to spend an eternity in hell – buried underneath their sin, forever separated from the light of God’s love and presence, eternally suffering the torment that they deserved. But when Jesus came, he brought a way for dead people to get life. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. . .” and “I am come that they might have life . . .” There are a lot of people who right now are living in the place of the dead, whose bodies will one day be buried in the ground, but whose living souls will be buried in hell. They’ll be shouting then too: “Help! Get me out of here! I’m alive! It’s dark in here! Get me out! Get me out!”
in the place of loneliness “into solitary places” (vs. 29) – The KJV says that the demon drove him into the wilderness. The NAS says that he went into the desert. All three of these descriptions lead to the same conclusion – he was living in loneliness. He was living where no one else wanted to live. If he had known where he was going to end up when he began his journey toward a life of sin, maybe he would have walked a different pathway. If he’d known that the friendship, acceptance and popularity which sin promised him would all be stripped away when the demons had what they wanted, maybe he would have taken a second look at the unconditional love that God offered him. Kids, teenagers, you are at a point in your life when you want friends – you want to be accepted. There will come a time that the loneliness will ache so much inside of you that you would be willing to do almost anything to take that pain away. Satan will make a lot of promises to you, but everything he gives you, he will take back, and he will take a lot more than you ever intended on giving. When that loneliness aches inside of you, reach out for the love that God offers you and the love of this church which is always available to you.
We’ve spent most of our time this morning describing what this man was experiencing in his life. I wanted you to see what it would be like to turn your life completely over to sin and to throw off all the requirements that God places on you. I wanted you to see what some of the people who live around you are dealing with in their everyday lives. Did you see any of yourself in that description? However you may describe yourself, this is how God sees you if you are without Christ or if you are living in anything other than total surrender to Him. (Rev 3:17 NIV) You say, ’I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. To the extent that you allow sin to control your life, the description of this demon-possessed man is the description of you. But however bad your description, there is hope. God can change you. He can heal you. But it may not be pleasant. Let’s look at the encounter of this man with Jesus.
2. The encounter with Jesus can be agonizing torture. (vs. 28, 30-36)
- for the ones causing suffering (vs. 28, 30-33)
they wanted to be left alone “What do you want with me . . .?”
they anticipated future suffering “into the Abyss”
they had to respond to Jesus’ authority “name . . . permission” – The name of these demons was “Legion”. A legion in the Roman army was anywhere from 3000 to 6000 soldiers. In the eastern way of life, to know someone’s name or to have someone respond when you requested their name symbolized the authority of the requester over you. When you entered a king’s presence, the king asked you what your name was, not vice versa. Jesus exerted his authority over these demons by demanding their name and by commanding that they come out of the man. That was torture for them. In leaving heaven behind so many years before, they had sought to throw off God’s authority over them, and here they were having to beg for permission to enter into a herd of pigs. If you look back up into verses 22-25 of Luke 8, you discover the story of how Jesus calmed the seas. In that event, the disciples marveled that Jesus had authority over the wind and the waves. I doubt that the area of the Gerasenes was Jesus’ original destination. It was most likely inhabited by Gentiles, and Jesus spent almost his entire ministry among the Jews. That storm through them off-course – at least from the perspective of the disciples. But from Jesus’ perspective, they were exactly where they needed to be. Jesus was in control the whole time.
That’s true in our lives too. We sometimes encounter storms over which we have no control and which are none of our doing. Those storms seem to throw us off course from where we were intending to be. We may even think like the disciples did that all is lost. But however big the storm, Jesus is there, He has all authority over the natural world and the spiritual world, and He can use that storm to take us to a destination we might not have ever chosen for ourselves, but a destination that will allow us to see His glory.
These demons recognized Jesus’ authority over them. That’s why they called him “Jesus, the Son of the Most High God” (vs. 28) And it was torture for them to yield to that authority and to give up a person that they claimed as their own.For people to encounter Jesus through you is torture for Satan. That’s why he does everything in his power to prevent you from impacting people with the message of the Gospel.
- for the ones suffering
demons didn’t want to leave (i.e. often hurt the one they had to leave-Mark 9:25-27)
demons had been his companion “for a long time” (Luke 8:27) – Those who have dealt with the demons of alcohol, or drug-addiction, or pornography, or food addiction or abusive situations know how painful it is to find your way back even after the demon has gone. Those demons were your companion for a long time. They were the ones that you ran to to find an escape from the pains that you faced. As much as you knew how much they were hurting you, they were what you had gotten used to. Now, you have to start all over again. You have to seek forgiveness from those that you hurt. You have to live a responsible life which is a lot harder than hiding inside a bottle or inside a plate full of food or in a relationship that is not honoring to God. It was torturous at times, but it was worth it. The demons had been his companion, but now Jesus could be his companion.
- for the ones who were not suffering – at ease (vs. 34-36)
they lost something of value to them (vs. 34) – These owners not only lost their 2000 pigs; they lost the best security guard that they had ever had. When the man was crazed by demons, no one dared steal pigs from the nearby herd. But now that he was in his right mind, they were going to have to hire more hands for the next herd that they had. Kind of reminds me of the time when Paul and Silas got thrown in prison because they cast an evil spirit out of a girl who was making some money for men by telling people’s fortunes. These people would rather have swine than salvation. They would rather have the jingle of gold in their pocket than the Jesus of glory in their hearts. Don’t be like them! Be like another young man who was out feeding the swine in a far off country. He realized that if he just went home to his father, his father would make sure that the needs of his life would be taken care of.
they feared what they could not understand (vs. 35-36) – “Legion” was not the only demon in this story. Fear was the demon that controlled the people. But they were fearing the wrong thing. They were fearing what the presence of Jesus was going to cost them rather than fearing what the absence of Jesus was going to cost them.
As at every vaudeville performance, Olga stood quietly against a wooden background while her partner threw knives, hatchets, etc., into the wood around her. All at once, during the act, she screamed, fell over in a faint. The audience of course suspected the worst. But in her dressing room, when she had revived, Olga explained: "I suddenly felt something crawling on my leg and discovered a spider. Oh, I’m so afraid of spiders!" STAATS-ZEITUNG & HEROLD, New York (Droke House translation). Olga feared a spider that could only make her sick when she should have been fearing the knives that could destroy her. Jesus said, (Luke 12:4-5 NIV) "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Our job should not be to try and understand God. We must be willing to accept Him just as He is even with all the things that we do not understand.
3. The response to Jesus will determine life or death. (vs. 37-39)
- A response of fear and rejection leads to death (vs. 37)
The people should have been happy. The town terror that prevented their children from sleeping at night and refused them peace at their relatives’ graves was now healed. But instead of responding by welcoming Jesus, they sent Him away. There is no record that Jesus went into this area ever again. Vs. 37 says that the people were “overcome with fear” – they were possessed by fear. The crazed man in the hills was not the only possessed man in that place. Fear opens the door to control by Satan. Those demons wanted a body to occupy. Now that the pigs were dead, they were going to be looking for new hosts. I bet that they didn’t have to look very far.
- A response of love and obedience leads to life (vs. 38-39; Mark 5:19-20)
Do you remember that description that we gave of the man before Jesus. Look at his description now. (vs.35) “sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind” Big change. That man made a request of Jesus. He wanted to come with Him. Jesus did something strange. He refused the man. Why? The man was a Gentile. He would not have been accepted among the Jews which is where the majority of Jesus’ ministry was conducted. But since He was a Gentile, he would have been accepted where Jesus’ would not have been. He sent him to give the message to his own people. Jesus knew that no one could reach a Gentile better than a Gentile could.
CONCLUSION
I entitled the message this morning “Nightmare on Johnson Ave.”. There are three nightmares that might be going on this morning.
4. You are in bondage to Satan and sin. If you do not have Jesus as your Savior or if you are not living in obedience to Him, then Satan has you right where he wants you. Don’t allow your fear of what it’s going to cost you to possess you and cause you to send Jesus’ away. Respond to His offer of freedom. This may be your only chance. Jesus may not come your way again.
5. You are in bondage to some kind of demon in your life. Maybe it’s alcohol, or drugs, or food, or cigarettes. They steal your joy and destroy your witness. Jesus has the authority over them. If you are willing to endure the torture that it may bring, then you can be rid of them.
6. You have been released from Satan’s control, but now you allow the demon of fear to prevent you from telling others the good news of Jesus Christ. The demons had no problem proclaiming loud and clear who Jesus was, but you can’t. Why? The greatest nightmare of all is not the blood and gore that is on the big screen at the movie theatre. The greatest nightmare of all would be that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed on a cross, but someone didn’t receive that gift because we kept our mouths shut and refused to encounter them with the love of God. Will you help people wake up from their nightmare and open their eyes to the peace that Jesus brings?
INVITATION
The invitation this morning is simple. I invite you to receive salvation. I invite you to receive deliverance. I invite you to become a messenger.
