New Life - Go and Share

Intro/Image

If you know me at all, then you know that I am a DIE hard Minnesota Vikings fan. I have grown up my entire life cheering for this team and one of the highlights of my week is Sunday afternoons getting to watch them play. From the time I was a little kid up until now, every single game they have, I’m either at the stadium or at home in my jersey, or watching elsewhere from my phone, counting down to kickoff.

As I have grown older and pay more attention to league news, I am constantly scanning the news for injury reports, roster updates, game updates and pretty much any interesting news that releases about the Vikings… and then as soon as it comes out, I immediately text 3 different group chats. One with Danny and Jacob Rasmussen, one with old high school buddies, and one with my brother in law. As they are all fans looking out for the same info, I send it and we all react to it together. Or on Gamedays, I have to be texting my buddies after almost every play, sharing thoughts, reacting together and enjoying the game together.

We as fans love these teams so much that we want everyone to experience the highs and the lows of rooting for them. So much so that I can have a 30 minute conversation with a complete stranger in a store simply because we both are Vikings fans. Something that can bring someone so much joy can also deeply frustrate and infuriate some people (myself included when the Vikes lose on a missed penalty call)… grace.church/regen……

Now I know that I am talking about sports. Sports do not bring us salvation and they definitely do not matter in the grand scheme of things. But it made me ask myself, “what if I was as passionate about the sharing the Gospel as I was about sharing news regarding the Minnesota Vikings?” (give more examples other than sports)

Subject/Need

I tell you this story because hopefully you have experienced the healing power of Jesus and you are ready to share it. Maybe this is your first time here and you are wanting to be set free and experience new life in Christ. The truth is that all of us have stories that are formed by one story. We all have been uniquely designed and placed here on earth and the experiences that we have had, shape us into who we are and christ is inviting us into new life with him and he wants us to invite others into new life with him as well

Big Idea

As we experience new life in Christ, we invite others to walk the steps toward healing with us.

We do this by following faithfully and sharing passionately.

TEXT SET UP

To fully see what this means, we are going to look at a story of redemption and healing. If you have your bibles, turn to Mark chapter 5. We are going to read about a man who was demon possessed but had an encounter with Jesus and was set free from the chains of darkness and sent out to go and share of the change that Jesus made in his life.

Mark 5:1–8 CSB

They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him. He lived in the tombs, and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain—because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don’t torment me!” For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

For my first point - Follow Faithful

God could be using a circumstance in your life to change someone else's life. Here is the cool thing about this passage that we just read. The chapter before, Mark 4, highlights Jesus and his disciples in their boat, caught in the middle of a raging storm. It doesn’t say exactly where they were heading, it just says “to the other side of the lake”. When Jesus calms the storm, they end up in the gentile region of Garasene.

They had a plan in mind, and were blown off course. But this did not hold them back! Jesus got off the boat and encountered a man that was in need of healing.

Maybe you've been walking through these steps of healing but you feel like you have been blown off course from your life. You were going one direction and now all of a sudden because of the healing you have experienced, you feel like you are in a new spot but do not really know how to share it.

The beauty if the Gospel is that it holds so much power in our day to day lives. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As I said earlier, what if we were able to strike up conversations with people about Jesus rather than striking up conversations about sports?

Better yet, what if when we are going about our day to day lives, we use those conversations to carry us into a conversation about Jesus.

Sharing the Gospel does not only have to be in church. We are actually called by Jesus in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples of ALL nations! So walk faithfully in your schools, on your sports teams, in your homes, wherever you are, walk faithfully and carry the name of Jesus high.

I think so often it is easy for us to want to write and follow our own path. 100% of the time, this path is just an endless cycle. There could be someone in your life that is longing and searching for someone to go out of their way to approach them and love on them as Jesus did with the man in this story.

This story highlights that when God redirects your steps, get ready to use them for good.

This story really highlights the danger and the consequence of our sin. When sin and bad habits are left unchecked, it allows a foothold that the enemy can take advantage of, expose, and make its way in. This man most likely was not always possessed like this. At one point in his life, he probably lived among others and was actually normal. Until he was so overtaken by the enemy that that it had completely overtaken him. And so, rather than pursuing him out of love, the people around him outcasted him to literally live among dead people. To live like a beast, to be chained down and fully overtaken by the enemy. Until one day, he was approached by a man. Not just any man but Jesus himself and he was set free from the bondage that held him back.

So, who is that one in your life? Is there one? Is it a family member a friend?

I am guilty of ignoring the voice of God sometimes when I see people in need. I drive by homeless people multiple times a week on my way home but rather than stopping and asking if I can pray for them, I drive right past and go into my home. There are people out there that are in need of redemption and we have this story that can change their life. But how do we share it?

This takes me to my second point

Share faithfully.

Share the story of Jesus faithfully.

We are going to jump back into the text here in Mark 5 to see how this interaction between Jesus and the man ends. We are going to skip a few verses and pick up in verse 18. Now what happens in 9-17 is basically a banter between Jesus and the demons that have overtaken the man. Jesus casts them out and sends them into a heard of pigs. The men who originally chained the man down came back and were shocked beyond belief because he was cleaned up, dressed, and a completely new man. The same thing can be for you! The men were so shocked. Someone who once was so overtaken by the enemy, all of a sudden is a new person. When you experience life change, you life will look different to people! They might ask “why do you seem so different” its because of the change that God has made and I am sure and hope they would want to know more.

We are going to be picking up right after Jesus has casted the demons out.

Mark 5:18–20 CSB

As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.

This man approached Jesus and had so much passion and joy from what had just happened that he was like “jesus please! Please let me go with you!” And Jesus had a better plan. He said GO tell YOUR people. Show them what the Lord has done for you!

We need to faithfully share his word! How are people going to come to know Jesus if no one is being bold and going out to share it!? Missionaries are not just people in foreign countries! YOU can be a missionary in your school!

But how? Maybe you’ve been coming for the last 8 weeks and you have experienced new life in Christ. You’ve walked the steps of healing. Admitted you need help, entirely trusted God, assessed the situation, your life changed, you initiated reconciliation, developed new habits, and are now ready to go share but really do not know how.

If you were at the fall retreat a few weeks ago, some of you may have seen this happen firsthand on the bus ride back from camp. It is such a beautiful image of how to easily start a conversation about Jesus.

One of our leaders, Todd, showed this beautifully on the way back from the Fall Retreat. On the bus ride back, he shared the Gospel with the bus driver, Russell. He didn't do this by bombarding him with huge, deep questions, he simply started int by just asking him questions about himself and his life. By showing that he cared, Russell began to open up, sharing that he recently went through a divorce with his wife of almost 18 years, became homeless and was aimlessly driving around the country. He met his now fiancé and pursued a career in bus driving and then met Todd. Todd asked him “I may never see you again but may I ask you about your faith life? I feel like I need to tell you about the awesome love that Jesus has for you”

Todd got to share the full gospel with him and give him his contact info so they can stay in touch.

You guys, it can happen in the most simple moments in life.

CLOSING

There is something really cool in Mark 5 and also Mark 7. Now, We don’t have complete certainty of this because the Bible does not SPECIFICALLY mention it in the text. But, after studying both passages, we can speculate that it may be a thing. It is so encouraging as it relates to sharing the gospel. When Jesus healed this man in Mark 5, he told him to go home to your own people and share what the lord has done for you and then, Jesus left. Fast forward to Mark 7, Jesus returns to the same location of the decapolis, that is mentioned in Mark 5. Not often does Jesus go back to the same place to do his ministry. In Mark 7, this is the story of Jesus healing a deaf man who also had difficulty speaking.

The cool part is, it says this: Mark 7:33 “He took him away from the crowd”

This place was a heavily gentile area. Meaning, the idea of Judaism and religion was frowned upon. But, in Mark 5, Jesus told the man he healed to go and tell his people about what he had experienced. Maybe that man went back into his town and told so many people about Jesus that he actually made an impact on his people and THEY TOO wanted to know this good news so maybe they started their own community of believers so that when Jesus came back, they were eager to see him and bring their sick to him.

YOU can have this impact! YOU can bring people to Jesus. You can use your story of healing to being people to New Life in Christ.

Maybe you are sitting here and you are thinking that you don’t even know what the Gospel is or you do but you just do not know how to put it into words that can be shared. Maybe this is your first time here at church, you have never heard any of this before! At the beginning of this message, I said that we all have our own personal stories that have been formed by the ONE perfect story.

Here is how I saw change in my life. I grew up hearing all about the Gospel. How God created me. How I was put on this earth with and for a purpose. I walked through most of my teenage years striving to believe this. While also striving to believe that I could find love and purpose in many different areas. I gave my life to Jesus at a young age. I didn’t know how to follow Jesus. I developed DEEP rooted insecurities. I was picked on for the way I looked because I was a scrawnier kid, I tried to put my image in sports and girls, just hoping to be seen and accepted. I turned to pornography for comfort. Hoping that it would fill this void. That turned into a deep addiction for the better half of 10 years. I was stuck, searching and longing for hope, completely forgetting the fact that I had freedom in Christ!

I made one bad decision after another and next thing I knew I was 100% alone. I was by myself in my car and the love of God completely took over my heart. I was reminded that I WAS made with a purpose. That yes, I am a sinner but Jesus went to the cross for those sins. He reminded me that I was not a slave to my struggles anymore. The nights that I would weep in tears because of the way I looked, he reminded me that he made me perfect. He went to the cross, bled and died for me. He did it for me AND for you. You could be like me. Going through the motions of Christianity. Forgetting your purpose. Forgetting your “why”.

Freedom was already WON when Jesus died on that cross and rose from the grave. And the only way to STAY free is to bring others along on this journey toward freedom.

That is the gospel story. That is the story that changes everything. Jesus hung up on the cross for you, for me, for you friend, for the person that has hurt you, for the family member that has turned their back on you. He hung up on the cross for your addictions, for your anxiety, your depression, your anger, your insecurity. He took that pain, that suffering , and he died for you.

So here is a challenge for you in here that have a new life in Christ and want to share about it. Some tangible ways you may be able to have these conversations.

1 - get personal with people - look at what Todd did! He simply showed interest in the bus drivers life and it led to an easy conversation about Jesus.

2 - Pray for BOB - Burden for the lost, outreach opportunities, and boldness to share the Gospel. Pray it DAILY

3 - Share the gospel

G - God created us

O - Our sins separated us from God

S - Sins cannot be removed by being a good person

P - Paying the price for our sin, Jesus died on the cross and rose again 3 days later

E - Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus will be saved…. FROM SIN AND SEPARATION FROM GOD

L - Life with Jesus begins now and lasts… forever….

Repeat big idea

Big Idea

As we experience new life in Christ, we invite others to walk the steps toward healing with us.

We do this by following faithfully and sharing passionately.