From Possessed to Preacher

I decided to continue taking my own advice.  Lately I’ve been getting outdoors more often and reading God’s Word out in the creation he has made.  It has been very lifting.  For some reason God has been speaking to me in those moments outdoors with him in very profound ways.  My wife has also taken to spending time in God’s Word while being outside.  She puts her earbuds in and walking shoes and goes around the loop for a stroll.  Having the Bible available in audio is a great way to get the words of the Lord into your head and heart even in the times when you can’t physically hold a book. I highly recommend it.  Actually, I not only advise it but challenge you to get outside and try it.  Today’s post is another woodland adventure with the Lord.  I would not have received it otherwise.

I was reading Mark chapter 5.  It is a bigger chunk of scripture than I usually post, but go with me, I promise it will taste sweet in the end.

"They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled."

There are many things that God can speak to you about in one passage of scripture.  That is because it is “living and active” as Hebrews says.  What God knows one person needs, he makes sure to cook up a good meal and feed that person the exact spiritual nutrients needed.  The Word and His Spirit team up together and reveal things to people specifically.  When we are walking with God, he custom tailors time spent with him in the Bible to meet us where we need, so to develop us, grow us, and mature us.  Yes, God is that good.

In conjunction with last week’s post, where I challenged people to get out and use your gifts and abilities, talents, passions, and desires for God and the advancement of the church, today, I want to take it one step further.

What happens when in the physical we see a fit for our gifts and talents, have an idea on how to be used, but God has a better one?  Is God a kill-joy of the ideas we have when we want to use our abilities and strengths for him?

That might not sound like a hang up until it happens to you.  It happened to me.

So, go with me here.  Say your life is totally changed upside down.  You are radically transformed, having gone from death to life, and are experiencing God in new ways every day.  Let’s suppose you genuinely have dedicated yourself to being used to spread the good news of Jesus to others, want to follow him, and do good things. Doesn’t that sound good?

You bet ya!  But who says it has to stop there?  What if God had more?

Mark 5:16-18

"And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him."

This isn’t a deep theological debate or a moral dilemma. I’m simply proposing that when Jesus gets our attention, we need to be ready and obedient to what he has to say. Doesn’t it sound like a great idea that the man once demon possessed follow after Jesus?  Think of it.  He could be discipled, taught, instructed, possibly even hanging out with Christ enough to be a thirteenth disciple.  Wouldn’t God be happy with something like that?  Wouldn’t he think it noble for someone to drop everything and follow him?

Mark 5:19 tells us that Jesus “did not permit him.”

Does that make any sense?

It does when God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts.  

Mark 5:19-20

"And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled."

Who would have marveled if he had quietly followed Jesus? How many people would his life had changed if he had gone after Christ and walked with him?  Possibly, he might have been a world changer, but we don’t know that.  What we do know, is that he followed God’s plan for his life and not his own, and when he did this, “EVERYONE MARVELED.”

You see, when God empowers us to do what is his will for our lives, we not only bring him glory, but we extend his arms to others who can now meet Jesus too.

Does what Jesus told the once demon-possessed man to do seem light?

Let’s take a look at what it actually was.

Jesus tells him to “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” The man didn’t waste any time.  He took what Jesus said to heart.  Here is where it gets huge.  

This might be speculation, but apparently, the man wasn’t a Jew.  Where did he go?  He went to the Decapolis, a center for Greek culture in a non-Greek land or location.  If Jesus told him to go and tell his friends and home how much God had done for him, and he went to the Decapolis, then I’m guessing he was Greek.  But here is the big thing.  How many Greek people would have benefitted from the man’s original plan?  Following Jesus meant living, breathing, and talking to. . . Jews, right?

God had a bigger picture plan for this man’s life.  Jesus was already taking care of the Jews.  He was going to teach them, do miracles among them, instruct them, and lead them.  He had it covered.  But even in those situations, God’s love for the unsaved overflows.  The Greeks needed to hear about Jesus too.

And so, in Christ’s perfect planning, what once was a demon possessed man was set free and sent to not where he wanted to go, but where Christ wanted him to go.

It was brilliant.  I suppose he reached more people than he ever could have thought possible!

In today’s challenge I want you not to look inside yourself but look outside yourself.  Maybe last week’s post got you all excited to go out and use your gifts and abilities for the Lord.  Maybe you were challenged to do something for the cause of Christ and got up strong and motivated to do it.  Awesome!!!

Today, let’s take it a step further.  If Jesus, the creator of the universe, the Living Word of God, has set you free and put you on a new life course, don’t you think it wise to ask Jesus what he wants us to do with that life?  Is it simply to follow him like this man originally wanted to? Or is it to bless a world in a way you never thought possible?  Who knows, what this man said in the Decapolis could have even been the steppingstones to Paul’s ministry to the gentiles later on.  

We have no idea what our obedience to Christ can do. We have no idea how far our obedience to Christ will travel.  We have no idea how world changing our obedience to Christ can be.

Today, take the life that Christ has set free, the talents and abilities he has created you with, and tune in your ear to hear what, where, and how he wants you to use it.

The possibilities are endless.

By Chuck Carr