Hello, you're listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
This epiphany in Lent, we're back in the Gospels,
specifically the Gospel of Mark. We are seeing
the revelation of God in Jesus. Mark is showing
us the true King becomes a servant for us. He
says right at the heart, the Son of Man came
not to be served, but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many. And Mark is nearly
always asking his audience, what do you make
of that? So, what do you make of this good news?
We'd love to meet you and we hope you'll consider
coming and joining with us each Sunday morning
at 10 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg.
You can find us online at secondcitychurch .org
and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope
you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Lord, we thank
you for your word. We thank you for its breadth
and depth, its beauty, most of all how it reveals
you as the one who loves sinners, as the one
who comes to us in our need, who lifts us up
out of the miry clay, who sets our feet upon
the rock of Christ. And we gotta pray that even
this time this morning as we look at this text
that you would Give us a greater sense of your
great love for us, your great mercy for us. And
like this man long ago, we would have a greater
desire to be with you, to speak of you, to share
about you, and to live with you. Speak, we pray.
Amen. We are in Mark chapter 5 you just heard
this text and this text of course comes immediately
after the crossing of the Sea of Galilee that's
where it begins heading over to town of the garrisons
the region of the garrisons actually people are
a little bit uncertain of exactly what town that
is though some most people believe now actually
that there was a town of a similar name right
in that area, the Decapolis, which means the
10 towns on the other side, which were Gentile
towns. And that that town was actually recently
discovered when they were redoing some road work
over there. Kind of interesting. Anyway, all
three of the synoptic gospels, the synoptic gospels
are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They tell similar
stories, sort of in a similar chronology. They
all have these two stories together. The story
of Jesus crossing the sea with his disciples
in the midst of this crazy storm and simply speaking
and the wind and the waves do his bidding. And
then right next to it, this man possessed, overcome,
and Jesus just says, come out. Powerful words.
Which say Mark and Matthew and Luke are all putting
before us that Jesus is truly Lord and he's Lord
of all. He's Lord of the physical, and the psychical,
and the spiritual, and all of it. And he has
authority over all of the chaos. Lord of it.
But what are the responses? Well, one thing we
saw actually, we see in both texts, I'm gonna
get back to this, is fear. Both texts actually
have that as the response. One, though, is a
fear that leads to acceptance, and one to rejection.
One of the great stories in the Bible is the
story of the conversion of Paul from Saul to
Paul. Many of you know that Paul is the great
author of most of the New Testament, not most
of it, he wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New
Testament. Some people think Hebrews, I think
the argument is better that somebody else did,
but you know, Paul, this great missionary of
the faith, this one who went and He largely started
the Gentile church after this man, by the way,
he's the first Gentile missionary. And his conversion
story, actually it's told three separate times
in the book of Acts, and then it's told again
shortly in the book of Galatians. It actually
gets more words dedicated to it in the New Testament
than are dedicated to the stories of the resurrection.
Kind of strange. Here's the thing, before his
conversion, like I said, Paul's name was Saul,
and he was a leader of the Jewish religious community.
In Galatians 1, he actually says this, I was
advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age
among my people, so extremely zealous was I for
the tradition of my fathers. He was a religious
leader, zealous. Yet, he also says right there
in Galatians 1, he says, He persecuted the church
of God violently and tried to destroy it. He
was violent. He was destructive. Destructive
violence. And in Acts chapter 26, when he's recounting
the story of his conversion, he says that he
was convinced that I ought to do many things
in opposition, in opposing the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. So you'll probably know that he
locked up saints, right? He says actually he
cast his vote that some of the early Christians
would die. He's actually in the story right there
with the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter seven.
And yet, this person encounters Jesus. This one
who violently is trying to destroy others in
his zealous religiosity encounters Christ. He's
on the way to to get Christians all the way up
town. He says, in raging fury against them, I
persecuted them even to foreign cities. That's
what he talks about in Acts chapter 26. So he's
on the way to Damascus and there he meets Jesus
and there he is entirely, entirely changed. Oddly
enough, in all the accounts actually, he recounts
how Jesus says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? that his sin was actually in the front to
Christ. That his work against Christians was
a work against Jesus. But right then and there
he meets Jesus. He's full of grace and compassion
as he always is. And to this man who had rejected
Christ and who had persecuted his people, he
gives a new name. He gives a new heart. He gives
a new life. And he gives a new mission. And it
is like this. A light switch goes off. goes on
and it is a changed, dramatically changed life.
No wonder it's told again and again. Well, okay,
so we have this story in Mark chapter five of
this demon possessed man. And I said right at
the beginning that it's put right alongside,
every time it's told, it's put right alongside
Jesus calming the storm. Even some of the language
is familiar as I mentioned. But here's this idea
that Jesus has power over all things, that he's
Lord of all, that the God who made creation also
is the God who is actually intent on recreating
not just creation largely, but the particularities
of individuals. And here's where I want us to
go this morning. I want us to see how this story
is actually in many ways a paradigm for Christian
conversion. In this little story, we see what
God does for us. in Christ. The power of Christ,
not just over the storms of creation, but over
the souls of humankind. So first, okay, I want
us to see the power of sin and Satan. Okay, first
I want to see the power of sin and Satan. Because
in a very real sense, this man was who you and
I were before you knew Jesus. Or, and this may
sound really harsh if you don't know Jesus yet,
this man is actually a picture of who you are
without Christ. Now, I'm aware that the Bible
doesn't actually pull back for us the curtain
behind the physical. There's actually not a ton
of stories of... demon possession in the Bible.
You know, you kind of have two sort of trenches
when you talk about demon possession. You have
some people, they're like, it's all over the
place. And some people are like, no, no, no,
don't talk about it. And there's this kind of,
you know, we kind of have to deal with it, even
though it's not kind of all over. It's actually
kind of interesting that even though the gospel
seemed to treat it as absolutely real, it's not
something you see all the time. But when you
do see it, like in this instance, I think it's
actually very instructive for us to kind of sit
with it and say, why is this being told to us
right now? One of the things that the Bible makes
pretty clear is that outside of the work of Jesus,
we're all this man, okay? We're under the power
of sin and Satan. And I want you to hear me out
because I bet there are some of you who may be
checking out church this morning. You're not
even sure what you think about the whole spiritual
realm, and you're here and you're like, whoa,
I came when they're talking about demon possession.
This feels a little, I don't know, this may be
a little extreme here. I wanna speak to that
a little bit. But I think there's a lot of you
here also who are just regular church attenders
and you actually wanna hear God's word and you
wanna receive it. But you also might think it's
a bit much for Peter, for this guy up here, the
pastor, to say, hey, you are like this man outside
of Christ. The power of sin and Satan is what
is actually controlling and destructive. Is that
a bit much, Peter? Tone it down a little bit.
So I wanna first address you churchy folk, okay?
I know who you are, you know who you are. The
regular folk. So later on in the gospel of Matthew,
in Mark chapter eight, the disciple Peter rebukes
Jesus. Here's what happened. Jesus says, he must
die and in three days he's gonna rise from the
grave. He must suffer and die is actually what
he says. He says he must suffer and die on the
third day, rise from the dead. And it's actually
really interesting. It doesn't just say Peter
rebukes him, but it says that Peter took him
aside. Imagine that, he's like, Jesus, I gotta
talk to you about that. You know, he takes Jesus'
side and he starts rebuking him. What are you
doing talking about suffering? And what is Jesus'
response to Peter? Yeah, I heard some of y 'all
mumbling that. Get behind me, Satan. He names
Peter. With an actual name of Satan when he's
actually going against the reality of who God
is in Christ and what that means He says get
behind me Satan for you are not setting your
minds on the things of God but on the things
of man that when we set our things mind on things
of man, there's actually a way in which we can
be called Satan Hey a little strange maybe It's
as though Jesus is saying it's his way, Satan's
way or my way. This way or that way, those are
your options. Outside of the power of Christ,
you are under the power of sin and Satan. John
chapter eight, so another eight chapter, but
in the gospel of John, Jesus, this time he's
talking to religious leaders who he often keeps
his most intense words for. But these were the
people that knew God. Their job was to study
the Bible. Their job in some ways was to look
for the Messiah. They were the religious leaders
who were looked up to for their teaching and
all that. And Jesus tells them this in John chapter
eight verse 42. If God were your father, you
would love me for I came from God and I'm here.
I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
He says, you can choose to receive me or two
verses later, verse 44, he says this. You are
of your father, the devil. That's what he says.
You're either in Christ or you are of the father,
the devil. What she says then, and your will
is to do your father's desires. What I'm saying
is that the Bible does teach us that outside
of the power of Christ, we are under the power
of sin and Satan. The other text I wanted to
mention was what we heard in Ephesians that Gordon
read for us. There we read this, you heard this.
You were dead in your trespasses and sins and
what you once walked, following the course of
this world, following the prince of the power
of the air. You are following the prince of the
power of the air. Outside of Christ, you're under
the power of sin and Satan. That's what the scriptures
tell us. Okay, so here's what we see, right?
When we look at this man who the disciples of
Jesus come across when they make their way across
the Sea of Galilee, we're invited not just to
look at his state under this destructive power
of this sort of demon that's called Legion, but
we're not just supposed to look at his state,
but what I'm saying is that there's actually
an invitation to look at our state. We kind of
look and we think, oh, this is an extreme situation,
but if you look at these other texts, the idea
is that if you are outside of Christ, you're
under the power of Satan like this man was. Your
inclination is towards sin. The Bible teaches
us that unless we are subject to Christ's rule,
that he is our Lord, then we are subject to the
rule of Satan. Father, the devil. Prince. of
the power of the air. But I know what you're
saying. You're like, Peter, this dude is like
running around. He can't keep chains bound. He's
hanging out in the cemetery up off of Her Street,
which I go to occasionally when I'm looking for
mushrooms, but not like this guy does. Gosh,
I just gave away one of my mushroom spots on
a sermon. But what you're saying is that we don't
see demon possession like this, if at all. What
are you talking about? Well, let me say this.
The devil's more clever than that. The devil
doesn't really want to advertise very much. Do
you know that? Not like, hey, listen to what
I'm doing all the time, you know? Many of you
have recently read C .S. Lewis's book, The Screwtape
Letters, and you read in that book actually the
power of keeping people under the idea of just
materialism. Don't let them see what you're doing.
Put on a disguise or you're more powerful that
way. And we know actually that the rejection
of the belief in the supernatural actually does
do great harm to the work of Christ and actually
does great gain to the work of Satan. Atheistic
communism in the 20th century alone killed over
a hundred million people. Rejection of God. Think
of how destructive our ideas are under sin. Think
of how destructive the idea is if you only live
in the here and now. You must take what you can,
when you can, however you can. Live for the present.
Just the material world is all that exists. How
destructive can that be? Some of you know who
Samuel Rutherford is, the great 17th century
Scottish pastor and theologian. He wrote this,
I love a rumbling and raging devil rather than
a subtle devil. And she says a subtle devil is
far more difficult to fight against, to see.
That's so often what we have. Okay. So my argument
for you church folk is just simply, hey, the
scriptures and Jesus himself seems to say unless
you under Christ, you were under the power of
sin and Satan. But I kind of want to, I want
to try to give an argument for you who are not
so sure about God or not so sure about Jesus.
And you're certainly not so sure about this whole
talk about sin and Satan and stuff like that.
You were just wondering about the reality, the
existence of the spiritual at all. So this stuff
is a bit far. Well, I mentioned that in John
chapter 8, Satan is called the father of all
lies. Well, the Bible begins actually with this
story in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
And this is perfect reality that's taking place.
Perfect communion between Adam and Eve. Their
fellowship is perfect. Their openness. They're
not ashamed of themselves. And they walk with
God. And then Satan comes in and he tells them
lies. And they actually buy into that lie. lie
in that sin, actually that listening to Satan
creates an estrangement from one another. What
actually happens is immediately they begin to
hide from each other and they begin to hide from
God. And then actually as the story builds, what
happens is death and actually societal conflicts
and all these other kinds of conflicts that come
out of this idea that they're listening to the
voice of Satan. What I want to suggest to you
is actually that part of what's taking place
in this story by this man being possessed is
destruction. And there's actually, this is what
the Bible tells us is sin is always accompanied
by destruction because Satan actually always
desires destruction. You may not believe in him,
but I bet you actually might, you might buy the
idea that sin and destruction always go together.
So let's take a stereotypical sin. What are the
stereotypical sins? One of them is drunkenness,
right? That's one of them. You go to church and
you're like, what is the pastor gonna preach
against? Sleeping around, not tithing, drinking
too much. Those are probably the stereotypical
sins. Talk about one of them for a second. I
mean, Christians do think that actually the abuse
of alcohol and over drinking is a sin, so that's
true. And I think most people would say, yeah,
Christians probably think that. So what happens
when you drink too much? You get a headache.
You don't show up to work as well. That's destructive
for your work habits probably. Oftentimes it's
related actually to hiding. We know that's the
case. So it's often related to lying. It often,
often leads to relational harm to the breakup
of relationships. So it creates relational distance.
It harms our work life. It harms our physical
well -being. What I'm saying is that this sin
actually leads to destruction, just like what
we're seeing in the text that we have before
us with this man who's possessed. He's leading
a destructive life. One study that I saw found
that an increase in alcohol consumption tends
to lead to a 20 percent higher divorce rate.
And that did say an increase of a leader within
a certain amount of time. Okay, but what I'm
suggesting, you can at least, even if you don't
buy the idea that this man is actually a picture
for us outside of Christ, you can at least say
that if you're going down a way that Christians
would say is sinful, then you're leading to destruction.
Okay, that's kind of my basic argument there.
I don't know if that was, if y 'all could follow
that very well. What I'm suggesting is that what
the Bible says is that the power of Satan and
sin is a destructive power. It hurts, it harms
yourself and others. And I don't think you necessarily
even have to agree with the idea of Satan and
sin to maybe buy into that kind of idea, that
way of thinking. And we see this really clearly
in this passage. Jesus and his disciples, they
make their way, right? And they see this man,
he's living among the tombs, which would have
meant automatically for them that he was unclean.
So they're living in a, this is a Gentile area.
And actually the name Gerasim, that's more of
a Greek name than a Jewish name. And so he's
living a destructive life. He's actually been
estranged from a community on some level. We
see that he's tried to be bound. They've tried
to bind him, most likely because he's actually
been very violent. So this demon possession has
actually led to the destruction relationally.
and probably physically towards others. And then
finally actually read that it's actually leading
him towards self -destruction. One of the things
that we read is that he cuts himself with stones.
So the picture you're supposed to get is the
destructive reality of the possession, this demon
possession of this man. The fact that this man
is under the power of Satan. Okay. Further, when
the demons are sent into the pigs, what happens
is that this destructive pattern is actually
over, is sort of shouted towards us again. What
do they do? They then run and they actually are
drowned, which some commentators think that this
is actually part of the way that Jesus is actually
destroying them. He's saying you're actually
going to be destroyed even though you don't want
to be. I'll say this, I know that that doesn't
sit very well with us, the death of all these
pigs. but they were an unclean animal for a Jewish
audience, right? And we're gonna get around to
why I think that's actually a significant part
of this story, okay? Anyway, my point here is
that this text tells us that sin and Satan lead
towards destruction and that you are either under
the power of sin and Satan and therefore you
are actually bent towards destruction or you
are under the power of Christ. And then so the
second move actually is not just the power of
sin and Satan and destruction, but the power
of Christ who always leads towards healing and
being whole. So we have this man, this man who
is possessed by Legion, which by the way, Legion
was the largest grouping in the Roman army. It
was typically four to 5 ,000 men, but the point
is a lot. And he's just wrecking havoc, right?
Breaking chains, living among the tombs, cutting
himself, living by himself, all this destruction.
And then almost, it's not a passing comment,
but it seems so simple. They find this man clothed
and in his right mind. Here's the man clothed
and in his right mind. What the Greek says, the
word there is SOFRONUNTE. This was a common idea
in ancient philosophy that related much more
than just right thinking. It's not just that
he had his right mind, but that his body was
actually working properly. He was working properly
relationally. That his whole being actually was
as it was meant to be. Being is controlled by
the relation of the parts to one another. and
all the parts were working together for the man
now. He was whole. He was healed. It wasn't just
correct thinking, but correct doing and thinking
and emoting and living with others and all of
it. One thing that I read said that it's difficult
to define the word soffroneo, which is the Lima
of this word, soffroneo, because it's not just
concerned with knowledge. By the way, that's
like the word sophistry, you know, the sophrine
-o. It's not just concerned with knowledge itself,
but with the knowledge of knowledge. It's just
this all -encompassing dynamic of whole and healthy
and right and full living, wise living, wisdom.
This is the power of Christ. Here's this man,
destructive in every aspect, clothed. seated,
full, healed. Can you imagine how dramatic that
must have been? The people come upon him, the
herdsmen, the herdsmen of the pigs, right? It
says they actually go to the city's end of the
countryside. They're just telling everybody they
can't, this man destroyed my pigs and then they
all come and they see him and they go, oh, changed.
This is the guy that lived up by the tombs. This
is the guy that would cut himself I saw his arms
just torn up with blood This is the guy that
we tried to bind and he kept breaking the chains
and he is seated there whole and in his right
mind That's when it says actually they were afraid
just like the disciples on the Sea of Galilee
he speaks in the work and the waves calm and
Jesus speaks in this man healed. It was then
that they saw the great change that had come
over this man that they were so afraid. Christ
and his power over the waves and the wind and
he uses the same power to convert, to change,
to radically alter this man's entire life. Friends,
I'm just saying this is the power, this is the
story of conversion. This is the God who saves.
This is the power of Christ to change. And this
is your story if you are in Christ. I mean, Paul
will say, you're a new creation. The old is gone.
The news come. You were an old man. That old
way of being is entirely in the past. You have
new life. This is salvation. Once far off, once
enemies, brought near, friends. Once following
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
at work and the sons of disobedience. But now,
by grace, we've been saved. This here, just this
little picture. is your story if you are in Christ.
New life. Good news of Christ for you. Jesus
brings those who were once given over to death
into destruction, into darkness, into his marvelous
light. This is the power of Christ. The truth
is that this story of conversion has happened
again and again and again and again throughout
the centuries. Think of Zacchaeus, that wee little
man. Let's see, he was the tax collector and
he was taking far more than he should have. In
fact, he says, I'm gonna repay fourfold because
I took so much, but I can do that. Changed, given
over to following Jesus, his destructive selfishness,
his greed. Now given over to following Christ.
His life was turned upside down for good, coming
incredibly generous. It's the story of the Philippian
jailer right there, right there in the jail,
giving his life to following Christ. Think of
Lydia also in Philippi. We don't know exactly
if she was living out of Griebus. She had built
this great purple empire. And now she's the one
who's welcoming the early church into her house.
And this wonderful woman given over to following
Jesus. This is the story of St. Augustine. Some
of you know his famous conversion. This is the
story of C .S. Lewis and Martin Luther and Martin
Lloyd Jones. This is the story of God's work
in the world, life of an individual, his power,
just as his power was over the wind and the waves,
the power over the human soul. to change. The
story of John Bunyan, John Wesley. Some of you
know the story of Etta Lineman. She studied under
Boltmann and for years was a teacher of theology
in German universities. Specifically, she was
a skeptic. She didn't believe it. She was very
open about not believing it. She was open about
it all being a big farce, even though she taught
the Bible and theology. God changed her. She
says this, and it's exactly what the man among
the tombs could have said. God immediately took
my life into his saving grasp and began to transform
it radically. My destructive addictions were
replaced by a hunger and a thirst for the word
and for fellowship with Christians. God has done
that time and time and time again. I hope he's
done it in your life. I hope you can say the
same thing. This was in the past. Now he has
given me a hunger and a thirst to be with him,
to be with fellow Christians, because this is
the story of conversion, the work of God saving
us out of our destruction into his saving life.
Now, here's what happens in Mark quite a bit
because Mark is the gospel that is most intent
on discipleship. Maybe you've caught this, I
think I've said this a couple of times this spring.
But one of the things that happens in Mark is
that he often leaves us with options. Jesus does
this quite a bit in the other gospels too, but
he does this most often in Mark. And the question
is, well, what do you do with it, church? Who
are you? Where are you? So here's the first big
option that Mark leaves us with in this text,
reject him. Because the truth of the matter is,
right, the gospel actually is deeply offensive.
The message of Jesus actually is very offensive.
The message of Jesus says, you don't have anything
in and of yourself that can earn your way to
God. In fact, you're controlled by the prince
of the power of the air. You're just like this
man who's bent towards destruction. So many people
don't want to hear that. Think about this, okay?
These herdsmen and the people that had gathered
around Jesus and this man sitting in his right
mind, what do they do? They beg Jesus to depart.
They don't want to come face to face with God
and Christ. They really actually, and this is
probably really what's going on with the pig
narrative, they don't want to have to come face
to face with what it will demand of their life.
It's actually gonna change how they live They
won't just be living for economic gain and how
many pigs they can own All the rest they actually
have to give all of their life over to Jesus
Well a whole lot of people maybe you're one of
them you hear this and you say want that I'll
take the here and now. Thank you very much Too
offensive cost too much No, thanks. That's the
first big option. Reject Jesus. Reject it. But
the second option is actually the one that's
given the most attention here. And the second
option is actually to be changed by Christ. And
there's three ways that we see this change. I've
already alluded to them a little bit. Simply
you have a changed life. Meaning the pattern,
your way of being in the world, the things that
you do are different. This man is seated, not
thrashing about, he's not breaking chains, he's
actually changed. Like his way of being in the
world, his way he even acts with his body is
different. He is seated and he is with Jesus
and he is clothed, not naked any longer, and
he's in his right mind. Would you say he has
had a dramatically changed life? The old is old.
He is put on the new. He's no longer wrecking
havoc, thrashing about, hurting others. He's
not hurting himself. Interestingly, it says at
the end that he goes back to the towns of the
Decapolis, the very towns likely that rejected
him and bound him with the good news. He's a
changed life. The other thing I want to say is
that he has a changed heart. He desires to be
with Jesus. This is the language of the heart.
He actually wants to be with his Lord. Verse
18 says this, and he was getting, as he was getting
into the boat, as he, Jesus was getting into
the boat, the man who had been possessed with
demons begged him. That same word that, you know,
others begged him to leave. He says, I want to
be with you. Begged him to be with him, to be
with him. This man desires the Lord. You've changed
life, you've changed heart. And then you have
changed words. Jesus tells 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
immediately it says, he went away, he was obedient
and began to proclaim. In the Decapolis, which
is the very towns that probably bound him, like
I said. How much Jesus had done for him. It changed
words. And this is always what happens. This
is what happens when you come to Jesus. You can
either reject him or you can be changed by him.
And it will always change your life. It will
change your desire. You will long to be with
Jesus. And it will change your words. You will
not but be able to speak of him. Maybe some of
you saw this but Larry Sanger who was the inventor
of Wikipedia and For years wanted nothing to
do with Jesus In fact, he did his PhD in philosophy
and he said he ran in he ran in circles in the
atheistic circles of people that wanted nothing
to do with Jesus And yet on April 5th of this
year, he wrote out his testimony. He says this,
he says, it's finally time for me to confess
and explain fully and plainly that I am a Christian.
Actually, if you read it, he says, some of you
are gonna be really surprised by this. But it's
the same thing that Paul did. Let me tell you
all that the Lord has done for me. It's the same
thing this man did. It's the same thing that
Edda Lineman did, the same thing that St. Augustine
did and John Bunyan did. Friends, here is conversion.
Here's a new life. This life is offered to you
in Christ. It is. Part of what's happening here.
You come under the power of Christ, be changed.
Changed life and a changed heart, changed words.
There's the power of God on display, over the
winds and the waves, but also over Satan and
sin. And it is on offer to you. Will you come
to him? Will you be healed? Will you hear him
say, as Saul did so long ago on the road to Damascus,
turn? Why are you persecuting me? Come. See.
Have new life. Does Mark so often does he lays
these options before you and what will it be?
Lord We thank you for the dramatic change that
you gave this man and we thank you Lord that
you have done this in us God I pray that we would
be those who can see what you have done in us
and that will Gladly speak of it Lord. I pray
that we right now in this room would assess Can
we even say what you've done in our lives? Can
we say what is different about us because we
worship Jesus, we're part of his people? And
Lord, if we cannot, God, would you do a great
work in our lives, even right this instant? Would
you do the dramatic work that you did in this
man's life, saving him from his destructive ways?
God, and bring us to new life in Christ. Lord,
some of us, we've given our lives to you and
we can speak of that, but Lord, there are other
areas of our life that we need you to work dramatically
in. God, touch those areas now. And then Lord,
would you also give us opportunities to speak
maybe to one another, even today, of how you're
changing us, how you're shaping us, how you're
making us part of the new creation. Harkening
back to the day before the evil lies of Satan
were bought, lived into. God change us, please.
Convert us anew. For our prayers, Lord. Amen.
Thank you for listening to Second City Sermons
podcast. We hope this sermon has encouraged you
to worship God and to celebrate the gospel of
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.m You can find us online at secondcitychurch
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again for listening. God bless