Like a Man Possessed

PRAY

Anyone ever watched one of the demon possession movies?…

Well I would guess that most of the stuff in those movies is totally made up, but I would also guess that at least a few of them started with some inspiration from the passage we are looking at tonight.

It comes right on the heels of Jesus calming a pop-up storm on the Sea of Galilee…

We see a man under spiritual torment

read 1-20

Jesus is able to free us from sin’s control.

The Enemy is real and real mean

We need to understand that Satan and demons are real and that they have very bad intentions!

We don’t have time to really get into this, but here’s a few things to know about Satan and demons…

What does that mean for us?

College football starts this week! All our teams have rivalries and they are great. I want y’all to know that I feel those rivalries very deeply. I also want you to know that that doesn’t stop me from being excited for my friends…!

But I will never hope to see good things happen to teams from Auburn or UT. I remember they played in the SEC championship one year and I watched the game with a scowl on my face the whole time…

But I have no power to affect any of their teams with my bad intentions. The enemy does have power to affect us!

1-5

Satan and his demons are not omnipresent, omnipotent, or any of the other infinite qualities that God is. But they are certainly not powerless either! And they have bad intentions…

Revelation 12:17 ESV

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

But here’s the good news for us: Satan and his demons can only do what God allows…

And they cannot overpower Him or outsmart Him or anything like that, and they know that!

Jesus is God

Jesus in the Son of God, God in the flesh. That’s who He said He was and that’s exactly who He is!

6-7

Some of you older siblings are thinking about what happens when you go after your little brother or sister. Or maybe what happens when you annoy your dad a little too much…

These demons know who Jesus is and therefore they know his power.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Why is this important?

Because He is God, He is able to set his people free.

Jesus came to free his people

Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the Creator who has entered into his broken creation to fix it, to redeem it!

8-17

Sin has put humanity in chains and Satan’s goal is to keep us that way and to torment us. But Jesus’ goal is the opposite of that! He wants to save us!

This movie called Hoppers came out last year and it’s about… So this girl connects herself to this little animal robot so that she can go to the other animals and tell them how to save their home. As goofy and cheesy as I thought that movie was, that is a shadow of what Jesus has done for us!

Romans 8:2 ESV

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

I don’t think any of you are demon possessed… maybe some of you. But all of you either have been or are currently held captive by sin and its effects on your life and eternity. But because Jesus took on flesh and entered into his creation…

Gospel presentation

And once you are freed, you must show people the way to be freed!

Jesus came to send his people

Jesus sent him to be a witness…

18-20

The past few summers we have gone to a place called The Adventure Museum. It’s a lot of fun, you should come if we go again next summer. But it’s a place filled with these challenges and puzzles that you are trying to complete with your friends. And one of the things I love about it is seeing how everyone helps everyone when we’re there. If one group figures a room out and then sees another group going in they’ll say, “hey, let me tell you how to beat this room!”

This is what God wants us to do! He has revealed to us the way of salvation and now He wants to use us to reveal it to others!

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Satan doesn’t want us to do this…

But he has no power over your soul! He can’t take the gift that Jesus has given you! He does have some power, but only what has been allowed. Rest in knowing that God has full power and you are in his hand! You cannot be put back in the chains of sin once He has removed them!