WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.799 Welcome to Skyline Church. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:06.000 My name is Adam. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:07.599 I'm one of the pastors here. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:15.439 And again, just to clarify, at the end of service, if you're here today, you're a biological mom, you're a spiritual mom, you have a mom, you aspire to be a mom. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:19.839 Basically, if you have an XY chromosome, we have flowers for you at the end of service. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.239 So would love for you to have that. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:30.879 So we live in a time of changing spirituality here in North America. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:34.240 Changes that call to us and tempt us as Christians. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:40.640 Or if you're here today, you're exploring faith, you're not sure what you believe, changes that tempt you as well. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:43.840 Christianity, as many of you probably know, is on the decline. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:49.920 Only like 60% of people now in the United States would say that they're a Christian. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:53.280 And it's the same thing with belief in God, it's also on the decline. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.759 But weirdly, spirituality remains strong. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:06.719 Weird, Pew Research started adding this question recently, where they basically ask: is there something spiritual beyond the natural world? 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:17.280 With only 60% of the people in the country saying that they're Christian, 81% say that they do believe that there is a spiritual reality beyond the physical one. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.319 Very strange. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:19.760 It's a paradoxical. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.239 Also interesting is the occult has exploded in popularity. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:29.120 When I say the occult, I mean like psychics, tarot cards, this type of thing. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:31.359 I think I still have a little bit going on here, Alex. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:32.560 Could you take it a little bit down? 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:34.560 Tarot cards, this type of thing. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:35.040 It's grown. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.200 Recent estimates I saw was like 10%. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:41.840 So if the occult market is growing 10%, that's like a seven-year doubling rate. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:43.920 And Joni and I saw this in a huge way. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:55.280 When we used to live down here in Denver, we went up to train, like I trained to become a church planter, came back down to Denver, even just in those three, four years, we saw a lot more of this. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:02.640 In the spiritual vacuum that's been created with Christianity on the decline, but spirituality still staying high. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:08.240 In this vacuum that's created, all this other stuff is rushing to fill the gaps. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:16.319 Weirdly, belief in the devil is down, but again, horror has shifted. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:19.439 By horror, I mean like the horror genre in cinema. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:25.680 Belief in the devil himself is down, but the horror genre has shifted dramatically towards the demonic. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.199 Um, 90% of Gen Z, it says, watches horror. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:32.719 It used to be just 5% of movie ticket market share, now it's 10%. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:35.439 It's changed a lot. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.039 I remember uh when I was in college beginning to watch this change. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:47.919 Like when I was younger, the main type of horror genre was what's called slasher movies, where it's like the Saw movies, and I don't recommend these, by the way, just in case that wasn't clear. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:52.879 The Saw movies, uh Texas Chainsaw, that was the type of horror movie that was that was popular. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:54.319 And then it began to shift. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:56.879 I remember when the movie Paranormal Activity came out. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:04.639 Paranormal Activity, by the way, the message of this movie series is if a demon wants you, it's over. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:06.800 There's nothing that you can do. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:08.080 That's the message of this series. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:26.719 In fact, when I was 19, maybe 20, I remember being in the theater and going out briefly to go to the bathroom, and I saw two people like by the door that had also just walked out, seemingly unrelated to each other, just sobbing because of fear and stress that the movie had put on. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:27.840 I'd never seen that in my life. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:34.000 I've never walked out of a movie before and seen people weeping because of the anxiety that it caused them. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:35.680 But that movie it did. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:42.719 So, like, how do we make sense of these messages from culture? 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.800 As Christians, we of course believe in the spiritual realm. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:48.800 We believe that Satan and demons are real. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:52.080 They're not just here to kick us in the shin that they want to destroy us. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.840 We believe that they exist and also have some degree of power. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:03.039 So the question then comes before us: how can we have peace in the face of the spiritual enemy? 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:10.639 How can we have peace in the midst of this changing culture, this pervasive message about spirituality? 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:16.000 Today, the text that we're gonna be in continues in Jesus' Ministry in Galilee. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:18.560 And we're gonna see two stories actually that address this question. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.120 And if you're taking notes here, you got the sermon sheet in front of you. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:30.639 The main idea that I think you're gonna see built on in both of these stories is that the complete authority of God brings complete calm. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.720 The complete authority of God brings complete calm. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:36.399 And we're gonna see this develop. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:42.959 The first story is not really about the spiritual realm per se, but then it sets the table for the second story, which is. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:44.639 So I'm gonna read them in two parts. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.120 I'm gonna be in Luke, I think it's chapter eight. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:50.079 Luke chapter eight, verses twenty two through twenty five. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:53.839 So the first story here, authority over nature. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:56.160 Let's see what it says. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:04.000 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, Let us go across to the other side of the lake. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:05.360 So they set out. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:07.920 And as they sailed, he fell asleep. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:14.000 And a windstorm came down in the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:18.879 And they went and woke him, saying, Master, master, we're perishing. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:27.120 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was calm. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.240 He said to them, Where is your faith? 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:36.399 And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this? 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:42.399 That he even commands the winds and water, and they obey him. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:44.800 Who then is this? 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:47.199 So, how does this text begin? 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:49.680 It begins with Jesus prompting a trip. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.720 As we'll find, it's kind of a mission, missions trip. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.319 Jesus prompting a missions trip. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:55.680 And I I love the scene here. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.360 Jesus gets on the boat, they all get on the boat, they're sailing across the lake of Galilee. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:01.360 Verse 23, he falls asleep. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:02.079 Why? 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:03.519 Because he's tired. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:10.879 Jesus, fully God, but also fully man, subjecting himself to our limits and constraints while here on earth. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.000 Then a storm comes, a big one. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.639 It starts to fill the boat with water. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:21.040 And remember, the disciples, a lot of them were fishermen. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.160 So like they're on boat, like on a boat like every day. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.560 They're out in the water like all the time. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:32.079 And it says here that they think they're going to die. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.560 Verse 24, we are perishing. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:40.480 And remember, the first century people, they do better at handling suffering than we do in our modern day and age. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:49.600 And for those for these disciples to be there and to think that they're going to die, paired with the fact that the text actually says they were in danger. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:51.439 Okay, they're not just clowning around. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:52.560 They think they're going to die. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:54.560 I mean, just a show of hands really quick. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:00.160 Raise your hand if you've ever had a near-death experience where you thought it was over. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:02.399 Nice about 30%. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.879 So I've had a couple brushes with death, but there was really only one time where I was convinced. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.959 Only one time where I was like, wow, I guess this is it. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:18.000 I was 16, I was living in Australia, and my friends were surfers. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:19.839 I wanted to be able to hang with them. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:21.680 Wasn't talented, okay? 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.279 It was a huge storm day on the beach, what's called double overhead. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.480 Double overhead means you stand up on your board, it's over your head. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:30.800 So double overhead is twice over your head. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:32.800 That's how big the waves were, it's talking about. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.879 My friends are out there paddling on to 12 foot waves, and I'm like, yeah. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:40.160 I get up, I'm like swimming around, trying to hang with them. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.240 But again, I didn't grow up on Australia, I didn't grow up on the beach, I didn't really know how to handle myself. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:49.839 And in a storm, in storm swells, it accentuates the rip current, which pulls you out. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:51.759 So I'm swimming around, I get pulled out. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.480 I don't know to swim parallel to the shore and then in. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:59.519 I get pulled out and I just start getting washing machined by 12-foot waves, as you might imagine. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:10.240 And you know, I'm 16, 17, so I got some gas, but when you're when you're working as hard as you can, you get dumped over and over again, you can't breathe for like 30, 40 seconds at a time. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:15.439 I mean, 15 minutes goes by, and I'm just like, I it's over. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:19.920 I'm I remember very vividly being out there, a hundred yards out from the beach. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.360 It sucked me out so far. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:26.160 And fighting, fighting, fighting, dumped, dumped, fighting, fighting, fighting, breath starting to leave. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:32.639 And I remember starting to get dizzy and being like, very, very vividly being like, wow. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:35.279 You know, I had a pretty good life. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:41.039 I sit I'm only 16, that's young, but you know, my parents loved me. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.720 I'm in Australia. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:49.039 Not I'm I'm surprised that this is the end, but you know, it could have been worse. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:50.559 My life was okay. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:58.080 And I remember very like concertedly thinking to myself, and and reviewing my life as I was sitting there. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:08:59.679 I couldn't, you know, I lost all my energy. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:01.440 I couldn't even fight it anymore. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:09.759 And I was just sitting there, kind of honestly just floating, because it had the ocean had humbled me and so sapped everything inside of me. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:13.039 And this, of course, the disciples are facing a similar moment. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.360 They think they're going to die. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:16.879 It says it in one verse. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.120 Don't let that part skip past you. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:20.639 So what do they do? 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:22.559 They get Jesus. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:24.320 They go and get Jesus. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:25.440 What does he do? 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:32.399 He awakes, and in verse 24 it says, He rebuked the wind and the waves. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:34.159 Interesting word choice. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:35.679 We've seen this word a couple times in Luke. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:37.600 He rebukes the demons and they come out. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:42.159 We saw him rebuke a fever, a Peter's mother-in-law, and it leaves her. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:47.360 And now he's rebuking, correcting, speaking to something else. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:49.440 Nature itself. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:53.200 The same word is being used here. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:54.799 He reprimands nature. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.000 And what's the result? 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.399 The wind and the waves cease, and there is a calm. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:05.919 Luke is showing us a new area of Jesus' authority. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:07.440 Nature itself. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:13.759 We've seen it be the demonic, we've seen it be diseases, we've seen it be forgiveness, we've seen it be over death itself. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:17.039 We've seen Jesus' authority so far in the Gospel of Luke over all those things. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.240 And here is a new one. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:19.759 Make no mistake. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.159 It claims that Jesus has authority over nature. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.480 It calms at his command. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:33.440 And some, you know, especially with the next text we're going to read, some look at this and say, well, this is a storm, but it's actually a spiritual thing. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:38.080 Like Satan, it says is the prince of the power of the air, and he actually sends this, which is possible. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:45.519 It is possible, but but make no mistake, the point that Luke is trying to make in this text is that Jesus has authority over nature. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:51.440 It recognizes his voice and calms at his command. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:55.039 And it's his authority over nature that rescues them. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:56.879 By the way, that's what happened to me too. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:58.240 You're like, wait, what? 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:06.240 I got sucked out and I basically stopped fighting, and I'm just kind of floating there, ready basically to die, because I was losing oxygen. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:09.679 And this surfer paddles out and he sees me. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:10.639 I couldn't even wave at him. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.519 That's how, like, I wanted to live, but I didn't even have the strength to wave. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.000 So I just kind of like waved my elbow. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:22.960 And he sees me and he paddles over and drags me onto his board and paddles in and then literally drags me up the beach. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:25.120 Like that's how I was trying to live. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:27.200 I put every ounce of my energy into it. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:29.919 And he looks at me and he's like, You swimming out in this? 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:31.440 What are you doing, mate? 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:33.679 I was like, I have no idea. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:34.399 Thank you, though. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.559 And then he goes right back out and starts surfing where I was just about to die. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:48.399 And I remember sitting on the beach and looking out at it and just taking eight steps towards humility in like 15 minutes. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:56.960 Just like the way that nature can just humble a person and helps you find your place in reality. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:00.240 It was a very, very significant moment for me. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:02.960 And this is what happens with the disciples too. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:15.919 Jesus rescues them, he calms the storm, and it causes the disciples to say, in verse 25, one of the main themes in the Gospel of Luke, who then is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:17.360 Who could this be? 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:23.440 Coincidentally, with this passage, there's actually a ton of Psalms that refer to this exact kind of thing. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:27.600 Let me just read you one of them, which Luke is obviously pointing to for us. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:28.720 Psalm 107. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:34.000 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from all their distress. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:38.559 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:44.240 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:51.200 There's like five other psalms just like this that talk about God calming the wind and the seas, the waves. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:58.240 Obviously pointing to Jesus being this person that the psalmist talks about, let alone Genesis 1. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:12:59.440 Remember Genesis 1? 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:07.039 Where there's nothing until God speaks, there's no water until God says, let it be so, and all of a sudden that there's water. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:12.799 Luke is saying, the creator of the creation is here among us. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.639 The one who spoke the waters into existence is speaking to him again. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.240 We're finding out the identity of the Lord Jesus. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:36.240 And then it's probably, when it relates to application of this text, though, it's probably not best centered on the correction, the rebuke of nature, the wind and the waves, but ironically on the disciples. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:40.879 Verse 25, Jesus says, maybe unexpectedly, where is your faith? 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:42.320 Faith in what? 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.039 Like, I mean, they went down and they got him. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:46.480 Like, what's he talking about? 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:47.360 Where is your faith? 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.519 I mean, it says they were actually in danger. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:51.519 So what is Jesus saying? 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.320 Well, I think what he's saying is, where's your faith in who I am? 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:56.159 Remember, we're chapter 8 now. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:57.600 They've seen some things. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:07.200 Maybe they don't fully know that he's the Messiah, the promised one of the Old Testament that they all had kind of been waiting for, but they've seen enough to kind of be like, maybe though. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:09.440 They've seen him raise people from the dead. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.279 Jesus is challenging what they believe about him. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:21.600 They believe a little bit, but they're still terrified in the moment rather than trusting in who he is and what he can do. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:31.200 See, storms, suffering, moments of mortality, you might call it, they have this superpower. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:36.240 And the superpower is they reveal to you what's inside of you. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:39.120 They expose who you really are. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.000 And that's what happens exactly here with the disciples. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:47.600 And these moments are worth their weight in gold because they give us clarity, they let us grow. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:53.519 And one of the things that I think we can pull from these, just these first couple verses, is we have to learn not to hate them. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:57.279 We have to learn not to hate them because God uses them. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.519 God uses them to transform us. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:09.039 They learn that there's no reason to fear with Jesus because even the wind and the waves obey him. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:20.799 So maybe right now, what this text is prompting us to do is to ask the question: where might be hardship, where might hardship, a storm, be revealing something about you? 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.039 It can be all kinds of categories. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:27.039 Financially, your health. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:35.120 I even think about our opportunity for alpha coming up with this class, this opportunity to invite people that we know and that we love to come and hear about Jesus. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:41.440 Maybe that like uncomfortability is exposing a little bit how far you're willing to go. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:48.159 Just how much you're willing to put your relationships, your social life at risk for the sake of the gospel. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:49.360 Maybe it's that. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:54.000 Maybe it's it's to do with romance, maybe it's to do with your kids. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:16:02.799 Where is hardship exposing a lack of faith like Jesus helps the disciples to see? 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:12.559 Because the complete authority of Jesus over nature is meant to bring us calm in the way that it brings nature calm. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:16.159 Authority over nature. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:22.480 The next scene is probably the most pronounced demonic encounter in the whole Bible. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.120 It's recorded in three of the four Gospels. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:29.440 What we're going to see is Jesus' authority not just over demons, but over all demons. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:31.600 Listen to this encounter. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.960 Luke 8, 26 through 39. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:40.080 Then they sailed to the country of the Garosenes, which is opposite Galilee. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:45.519 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:50.879 For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:17:01.600 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? 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:04.079 I beg you, do not torment me. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.599 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:09.680 For many a time it had seized him. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:18.079 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. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.279 Jesus then asked him, What is your name? 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:25.519 And he said, Legion, for many demons had entered him. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:30.720 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:36.720 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.559 So he gave them permission. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:45.920 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:52.880 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:18:05.519 Then the 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. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.839 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:18.400 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Garasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.279 So he got into the boat and returned. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.759 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:33.279 But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:40.079 And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:46.240 So, this trip across the lake, as it turns out, is a missions trip. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:46.880 Where? 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.319 To the Garosenes. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.480 What's interesting about the Garrishenes is it's part of a Roman province called the Decapolis. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:55.119 And in the Decapolis, it's mostly Gentiles. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:57.359 And by that I mean people who aren't Jews. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:01.039 And remember, Jesus says multiple times, I came for the lost sheep of Israel. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:02.640 He's talking about the Jews first. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:09.039 Later, when he tells his disciples to go share about him, he says, first go to Jerusalem, then Judea, and then the ends of the earth. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:15.279 And yet here is Jesus going to a non-Jewish part of the area. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:23.279 It's foreshadowing that the good news of Jesus will go not just to the Jews, but to all peoples of the earth. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.880 This is one of the themes in the Gospel of Luke. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:33.519 And as soon as he lands, he's confronted by really the most demonized person in the Bible. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:34.319 The whole Bible. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:40.880 When I say demonized, what I mean is a person who is inhabited by wicked spirits. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.319 They have a connection, they have reason to be there. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:47.839 We don't know why with this man, but that's what I mean by demonized. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:52.960 And with this guy, you know, you can think about it on a scale, one to ten level of demonization. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.799 This guy's like a 10 out of 10. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:20:02.240 In fact, when Jesus asks it its name, he says legion, and the reason he says legion is because there's a lot of demons inside of him. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:07.440 And legion is a Roman military unit of soldiers, usually made up of at least 3,000 soldiers. 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:08.559 Could be more though. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:14.079 So like the implication of this text is that this guy has like a thousand plus demons in him. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:16.960 Really, really gnarly. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:18.799 I mean, you can imagine being the disciples. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:25.200 Following Jesus, we get on the boat, we almost die in a storm, and here we are in a new territory staring at a naked dude. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:28.960 Like, imagine following Jesus, and like this is your 24-hour period. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:43.599 Luke is actually really intentional here to spell out what this guy's life is like as a demonized person. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:45.519 The symptoms that you see. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:47.200 So here's just a couple of them. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:52.960 Well, here's all the ones that I could find with another one from another from the other uh gospel that adds one. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.160 Number one, he's naked. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.200 This guy is literally walking around with no clothes on. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:09.599 The level of like lack of self-awareness, like the mental instability that that immediately indicates is really, really high. 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:15.680 Number two, he's driven to live away from his home in a cemetery. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.359 Extreme isolation. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:20.880 And in fact, he's he's dwelling around death, is what's happening. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.880 This is what the demons are making him do. 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:27.440 Number three, they would seize him often, take control over him for a brief period of time. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:33.599 And we see other places in the Bible where a demonized person gets thrown under the ground and foaming at the mouth, this type of thing. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:36.240 Number four, he's basically incarcerated. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:39.599 So different times they have him under bondage, under guard. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:49.200 But then number five, demonically he has like super strength and causes him to break the bonds and just roam around. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:54.880 You can imagine that basically everyone in this whole region avoided this guy. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:57.519 Number six, he would often be driven into the desert. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:59.519 Note this repeated theme of isolation. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.880 Trying to, the demonic is trying to separate him from anyone and anything that loves him. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.880 Number seven, they seem to be able to have spoken through his voice. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:14.640 This is kind of the weird back and forth, maybe you notice in this text where it's like he, they, it's like who's talking when? 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.240 It's kind of hard to tell. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:22.720 And then another one of one of the other gospels, number eight, adds that sometimes he would cut himself with stones. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.319 Another symptom of severe demonization. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:31.279 This is a brutal and despairing existence. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.680 And honestly, it reveals the intentions of the demonic. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:42.160 When they really have their way and they have a very large amount of power and influence over someone, this is what happens. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:46.319 And you can see very clearly what their intentions are. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:51.039 Again, named Legion, perhaps thousands of demons in this person. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.279 An extreme level of infestation, an extreme level of brokenness. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:07.920 And you know, today, almost assuredly, if we saw somebody like this, and today, if you're just walking down Denver, 16th Street Mall, or wherever, and somebody is like this, the immediate conclusion is this is a mental health crisis. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:13.119 The immediate conclusion is this is a physiological issue, not a spiritual issue. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:20.720 That is what basically society today would put this person, this is the category that they would put this person in. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:28.240 But we, of course, as Christians, we believe in the physiological, but we also believe in the spiritual. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:30.640 We believe in both. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:33.839 And here's the thing that I just have to say. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:44.640 If God's people refused to put anyone and even think about this other category, the spiritual, then what hope is there for people who suffer from this? 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:54.079 If we in our day and age will not even consider this as a possibility, first of all, it shows how little we think about this. 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:57.599 It shows how unseriously we take it. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:00.480 Because the Bible is making a statement about reality here. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:01.519 Make no mistake. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:06.079 It's saying Jesus sometimes heals people for a physical issue, other times it's demonic. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:07.759 He always knows the difference. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.319 And he's willing to step into either one. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.720 I remember the first time that this happened to me three years ago. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:17.680 Not that I was demonized, but encountered a person with it. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:20.160 Although, who would put it past me? 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:27.599 Um, I had honestly I'd been praying because the funny thing is, you read through the Gospels and Acts, this happens like all the time. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:31.200 And for whatever reason, the Holy Spirit had been prompting me, and I was like mad. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:34.799 I was like, Lord, there are so many stories about this in the Bible. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:37.200 This one gets repeated in three different gospels. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.680 The volume of passages about people being demonized is like a lot. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:44.240 And I was mad, and I was like, God, what is this? 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:46.000 Is this not true anymore? 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.759 Is this like not a thing? 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:59.039 Lo and behold, the next week that I prayed that prayer, someone starts coming into the church, middle of the day, middle of the week, uh, that was preparing us to send and plant in Denver. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:15.920 And uh she's about my age, incredible, professional, high-paying job, and uh had been fired from that job because she had gone insane, uh, had been relegated to her apartment for months at a time, such that her family would send people and try and find her. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:21.920 She's coming into the church, she would start speaking in another voice and start to curse everyone there who was trying to help her. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:30.799 And I wasn't there for that at some of those initial encounters, but some people are telling me about it, and I'm like, Because I again I had just come off this prayer asking God, God, what gives? 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:34.559 This is not like a small thing in the Bible, it's a big thing. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:36.079 Is this fake? 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:42.480 And so they're telling me about this, and I'm like, okay, uh, did anyone try, because again, I'd never done this. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:48.400 Did anyone try to pray prayers of authority in Jesus' name and see if it's, I don't know, maybe demonic? 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.559 Because at that point we'd seen basically everything except her head do a 360, right? 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:54.480 And it's like, okay. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:56.559 And people were like, I don't really want to do that. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.920 And I was like, well, are you willing to try it with me? 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.960 And they were like, ah, okay, fine. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.240 So we set it up, text her, she's gonna come in for prayer. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.559 We're just gonna pray and see and pray that prayer over her and see if anything happens. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:23.279 Because again, like the Lord really gave me an on-ramp on this because every part inside of me is like, mm, it's probably drugs, it's probably mental health, mmm, there's a huge volume of this in the Bible, but I don't think it's true anymore. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:27.599 Every part of me was pulling at that, but because of my frustration, honestly, we move forward. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:37.519 So she comes into the parking lot, we're about to go for prayer, four cop cars drive into the parking lot, including a van, and they say her parents have called a 72-hour hold on her. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:40.480 You will not get to pray with her, we're taking her to the psych ward. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:43.839 And I'm sitting there in the parking lot like, oh heck no. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:46.240 No way. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:47.519 Where are you going? 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:49.680 We're going all the way down to Denver in the psych ward. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:50.559 Okay, great. 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:52.160 See you in a few. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:27:00.480 So a day passes, we get um authorization to go and visit her, and then we went down and visited her. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:16.160 Let me just, before I finish this story, what what these things tried to get her to do was to kill herself, to isolate her. 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:17.920 She had left all people that she knew. 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.480 There's like overlap with like half the symptoms here. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:25.279 And let me let me just ask you why why do you think that these 14 verses are here in the case? 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:27.519 It's not one, it's 14. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:29.920 Why do you think it gets repeated in all three Gospels? 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.680 Why do you think there's 20 other stories like this? 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.640 What do you think Luke wants us to see? 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:41.359 Well, look at how the demons respond to Jesus. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:42.640 Verse 28. 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:44.799 They fall down before him. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:48.079 Again, it's the man and seemingly the demons together. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:49.680 They fall down before him. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:52.559 Different story compared to the wind and the waves. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:53.599 Same result. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:55.119 They fall down before him. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:58.000 Wind and waves, legions of demons, doesn't matter. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:04.000 What Luke wants you to see is that all aspects of reality bow to Jesus. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:09.920 Every dimension, nature, disease, demons, death, sin, everything. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:13.680 There is nothing that does not respond to his voice with obedience. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:16.640 The great I am has come. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:18.799 Verse 32, I love. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:20.480 They fall down and beg. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:24.559 I beg you, don't send me into the abyss. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:26.079 Abyss, weird word. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.079 Happens like eight times in the New Testament. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:29.359 Different than hell. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:31.759 Happens like eight times, most of them in Revelation. 00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:37.519 What the abyss seems to be, the word actually means bottomless pit, foundationless hole. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:40.400 And it's again, hell is described differently. 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:43.680 And when you read Revelation, the abyss seems to be this place. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:50.720 You see that certain angels from Genesis chapter 6 seem to have been locked away, wicked angels, in this abyss. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:54.960