New Spiritual Life

Intro

Welcome to River Church. We are so honored to come to you right there in your living rooms...

I want to begin a new series I will call, The Next Stage Upgrade.

We live in a time right now where you go places wearing masks and gloves. You go to the store and there are empty places where toilet paper was. A lot of stuff is missing… restaurants, sports etc.

People keep talking about getting back to normal, but God has something better than normal.

Matthew 11:28–30 The Message

28 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

We are fighting a virus and it has a name, but we have been fighting other viruses too. Anxiety, depression, anger… God has an answer to all of these.

We have been going along fighting these things, but then everything came to a screeching halt. Sometimes, we haver to stop and listen to the Lord.

Your Next Stage Upgrade

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 NLT

23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.

What is the new normal for our spiritual life, emotional life (soul) and our physical life?

We will start with our spiritual life...

If you miss this, you miss it all. So many have had a bad experience. It was more about church attendance instead of relationship with God. It was just a religion. I grew up in church but did not have a relationship until later when I heard about a person named Jesus and that he wanted a relationship with me. When I accepted him, everything changed for me.

Largest growing religion right now is NONE’s… people who don’t believe in any religion.

Let’s wipe the slate clean and look at the GOOD WORK that God wants to do in your life.

Mark 5:1–5 NLT

1 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.

Gerasenes - region that was a Gentile area. A miracle came up while they were on the way over to Gerasenes. He stopped the storm…

This guy had bee kicked out of town and now was living in the grave yard. They would try to chain him up, but he would snape the chains and they would re-chain him.

Our condition without God...

This man experienced these…

Isolated

When we are apart from God, we are isolated.

This man had been kicked out of town and had to live in the grave yard. He probably felt like he had missed it. Have you ever thought that this was not the life you wanted to live?

BC I was isolated. I did not know Jesus and felt it. When I saw others who did, I wanted what they had.

Imprisoned

He was chained up… he kept breaking them and they would re- shackle him.

Luke 8. He was shackled and without clothes. We are shackled by sin. when we do, we will be led into more and more shackles. It’s like addictions that you get free of and then fall back into. It may seem like you can’t break free.

God has the power to break you free.

Incomplete

He just wandered. He was alone and lonely. He had no purpose and he howled in pain…

Many of you are wandering and living in pain… howling in pain…

Some of ya’ll parents/grand parents who have been with your kids since they have been out of school… are howling in pain…

How do we get to Him?

Mark 5:6–8 NLT

6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”

You can see the struggle inside him. The demons trying to keep him…

All this man had to do to escape is life of isolation was to run to Jesus. Jesus cast the demons out of him and he has a new spiritual life.

Jesus sent the demons into the pigs and they ran into the sea…

Mark 5:15 NLT

15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

Luke 8 says he was sitting at the feet of Jesus… with New access…

1. We have new access

We have new access to God through Jesus. We are invited to relationship with God. We have the privilege to sit at the feet of Jesus… not at a distance, but up close and personal.

During this time of Physical distancing, the best thing we can do is to sit at the feet of Jesus. Before, we were running every night… now we all need to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Mark 5:15 NLT

15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

They were afraid because something had happened that they could not control.

2. We have new freedom

This man is now clothed and sane. He had a new life. He had been released from his embarrassing life but now he was set free. Naked represents shame… fully clothed is God giving you freedom from shame.

We get new freedom. Whatever you have felt shame from in your life, God gives you new freedom.

You may be struggling with something… with thinking there has to be something better than what you have. There is…

Mark 5:15 NLT

15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

When Jesus steps in, you find new freedom. You may be watching today and you have experienced it or you may be watching and go, I need that. God wants you to have it today.

3. We have new purpose

Mark 5:18–20 NLT

18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Here is something that’s real cool. Jesus crossed the lake, just to see this man.

He told this man, there is a new normal for you… go back and tell everyone what I have done for you. His purpose was to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

He probably didn’t know everything there was to understand about Jesus. He was just telling people about what Jesus did for him.

When Jesus went to the Cross, he was isolated, imprisoned and took our sin… our incompleteness on himself … our nakedness and shame on himself… so that we would not need to be isolated… to be imprisoned… to wander without purpose.

Salvation Prayer…

General Prayer -