Morning Message Text: Luke 8: 26-39
Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.
27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!”
29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.
31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.
33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside,
35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.
37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
Morning Message:
When we think about glorifying God it all starts with honoring him, showing respect for God. That sounds easy enough; it shouldn’t be hard to honor and respect our creator. We are told in Psalm 111: verse 10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This does not mean that we should be afraid of God, but we should have a healthy respect for him and his word. There are many factors that go into our attitude towards God. Jesus tells us that if we belong to him then we can call God, Abba, Father. We know that the commandments say that we should honor our father and mother. That sounds like the simplest requirement that could be made of us, but we all know that it is so much more complicated than it sounds. In a perfect world our parents would be perfect, and as parents we would also be perfect. In a perfect world everyone would have had the wonderful experience of two loving parents to raise them and be there for them. This is not a perfect world, so we come to celebrations like Father’s day, a day to honor the men of the church, with mixed emotions at best. I have probably shared with you in the past that my father was very absent from my life when I was growing up, and still to this day, we have no real relationship. As I look back at my youth it would be easy to blame some of my misadventures on him not being around. I don’t do that because I always knew right from wrong, and I know that I made my own choices. I chose to honor my father by not judging him and not dishonoring him. That has taken time and prayer for me to see things in that way and realize that I can’t possibly know the whys; all I know is that God worked it out. What’s your story today? Everyone has complications in their relationships.
My point today is that our relationships with our parents or lack thereof, can have a positive or negative effect on how we give glory to God. Good solid parental guidance is very important for the growth and wellbeing of children. You cannot and you should not try to replace that with today’s education system. When there is a void in a child’s life, a disconnect between him or her and parents, as I experienced, God, our heavenly Father, can fill it. I know that this is not your typical Father’s Day message, but we no longer live in a typical nation. We were once a Christian nation. We were once a God-fearing nation. That is no longer the case, so it is more incumbent upon Christian parents to provide Christian values, and today to counteract the misinformation that our children may be exposed to on the internet, in schools, or things coming in the mail.
You might be asking yourself how today’s scripture fits with Father’s Day and My sermon title, “God’s Glory, Kingdom work.” That’s actually a good question. Sometimes I get to this point in the sermon, and I ask God the same thing. Where are you leading me, Lord? Our story today is about a poor demon-possessed man who had been struggling with this for a very long time. When we hear of all the things that he was doing to himself, our first reaction might be that this man needed to be locked away somewhere so that he could do no harm to himself or others. Today we might pump him full of medication, and if that doesn’t work, put him somewhere out of sight. That is what the people of this town would have rather Jesus had done. He wasn’t bothering them, he was only hurting himself, but now because Jesus was doing kingdom work, they lost a whole heard of pigs. Kingdom work, from a purely human point of view doesn’t always make sense, as a matter of fact, kingdom work never makes sense to those outside of the kingdom. Today, our Christian values and what we want our children to learn and inherit don’t make sense to the world.
Jesus is not interested in the loss of livestock; that can be replaced. He is interested in the life and soul of this poor man as well as every man, woman, and child in this world. Jesus is not worried about what the world thinks of his actions; he is concerned with glorifying God with his actions. We can learn a lot by paying attention to Jesus’ focus. He was here to do kingdom work and for God’s glory. We are on this earth; we have been given life and breath, for one purpose: To glorify God and build his kingdom. Apart from that, our existence is meaningless. You want proof? Not right now, after you sing the last hymn, look at the next page number 364 and read the chief end of man. Mothers and fathers, parents, grandparents, guardians, anyone who has the smallest influence over our children, use it to build God’s kingdom and glorify him. Fathers: men of the church, today is your day. If you are to be honored, be honored for leading your children into God’s kingdom. The world, the schools, all of society is vying for their attention, but you have the opportunity to do something for God’s glory. I truly believe that God is calling all of us to take back the minds and the hearts, and yes, the souls of our children. It is never too late, but we need to get busy.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
Views: 0
