WEBVTT 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:08.580 His cross and follow me and for most of us this 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:12.560 is a struggle. We tend to be selfish instead 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:17.239 of selfless and we think of ourselves first though 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:21.519 we want to love our neighbor and we would like 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:25.699 to be unmercenaries to a certain degree anyway 00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:31.940 and our eyes though they remain on ourself, on 00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:36.060 our own needs, on our own wants. And so the question 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:40.799 for us to ponder today, for each one of us, is 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:45.899 how do I become selfless and love my neighbor? 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:50.960 How can I do that? Today's gospel from Luke will 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:55.719 help us explore this more. Jesus arrives by boat 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.759 in the gatherings and encounters a man who had 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:04.640 demons. They tormented him so badly that he had 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:08.359 no clothes and lived in the tombs. And Jesus 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:11.900 commanded those demons to come out of that man, 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:16.640 and he sent them into swine and into a herd of 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:22.180 pigs. And those pigs ran violently down a steep 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:30.340 slope into a lake and drowned. here for us today 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:36.200 is twofold. One, demons are commanded by Christ 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:40.060 and they have no power before him. Our Lord and 00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:43.780 God and Savior Jesus Christ is Lord over all 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:47.180 of creation. Everything is subject to his authority. 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:51.439 Trust in Christ our Lord and do not be afraid. 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:56.129 And the second lesson, which is more directly 00:01:56.129 --> 00:02:00.069 relevant to today's message, is that in order 00:02:00.069 --> 00:02:06.290 to follow Christ, we must deny ourselves. The 00:02:06.290 --> 00:02:10.289 Gadarenes, they saw miraculous healing. They 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:14.289 saw demons commanded by the Lord. His power was 00:02:14.289 --> 00:02:18.930 evident. One might expect everybody there to 00:02:18.930 --> 00:02:23.270 welcome him and to fall down before him. Before 00:02:23.270 --> 00:02:27.250 the Lord Jesus. But instead. They ask him to 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:33.169 leave. Please just go away. Why? They were afraid. 00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:37.610 And they did not want to change. And this gets 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:42.849 in the way of us being selfless. If we're selfish. 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:47.669 And we do not want to change. They raised swine. 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:50.889 They were forbidden by the Mosaic law to do so. 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:54.550 But they did. and they knew that it went against 00:02:54.550 --> 00:02:59.129 that law, what was their priority in life? It 00:02:59.129 --> 00:03:04.949 was to make a profit, not God, not his law, not 00:03:04.949 --> 00:03:09.590 following where he would lead, but their swine. 00:03:10.069 --> 00:03:15.590 And so, how do I become selfless and love my 00:03:15.590 --> 00:03:19.800 neighbor like the unmercenaries? Well, We must 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:23.379 be like the man who came to Christ healed, demons 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:26.939 cast out, and he comes before him and humbly 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:30.039 says, Lord, I want to follow you and go where 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:33.120 you want. The Lord told him to do something different, 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:36.599 to go to his family. But the desire of his heart 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:40.740 was to follow the Lord. We must be willing to 00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:46.879 give up raising swine, whatever that sin is in 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:50.439 each of us. that we need to get away from. We 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:54.240 need to leave selfishness behind, be willing 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:58.240 to change, to strive to keep Christ's commandments, 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:08.599 to determine in our hearts, to seek to draw close 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:14.759 to God, and to do this, we must learn to deny 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:20.240 ourselves. Archimandrite Simeon Kragiopoulos 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:24.660 says of self -denial, There is no other way to 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:28.379 be of the Lord and for the Lord to have faith 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:32.860 in you and to bless you. You must deny yourself. 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:38.500 This is the renouncing of the self. It's the 00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:42.639 whole assesis of the spiritual life. The great 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:46.060 evil that man now experiences because of the 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:52.649 fall. is that man is locked inside himself. He 00:04:52.649 --> 00:04:56.589 holds a high opinion of himself. If you wish 00:04:56.589 --> 00:05:01.129 to make a good start, guard this phrase, deny 00:05:01.129 --> 00:05:06.949 yourself. 2 Timothy 3 .1 -2 reads, This know 00:05:06.949 --> 00:05:10.170 also that in the last days perilous times will 00:05:10.170 --> 00:05:14.110 come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. 00:05:15.629 --> 00:05:20.550 John 12 .25 says, He that loveth his life shall 00:05:20.550 --> 00:05:24.509 lose it, and he that hateth his life in this 00:05:24.509 --> 00:05:30.350 world shall keep it unto life eternal. So are 00:05:30.350 --> 00:05:33.550 you ready? Are you ready to move away from a 00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:38.709 self -centered life of worldly pursuits, to give 00:05:38.709 --> 00:05:43.970 up raising swine, to move away from self -love? 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:48.040 and truly learn how to love your neighbor, there 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:52.220 is only one way to do it, and that is to follow 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:57.600 Christ, to prioritize your faith in him as more 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:01.540 important than anything else in this world, to 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:07.620 learn to deny yourself and to humbly seek God's 00:06:07.620 --> 00:06:12.480 will. And you can only do these things with God's 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:18.079 presence and help. So the first step is to draw 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:22.579 close to God, to leave the world behind you, 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:27.620 to come to church, to confess your sins, to take 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:33.000 holy communion, to pray here together with your 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.560 brothers and sisters in Christ and also at home, 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:39.920 and to read the holy scriptures, to prioritize 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:47.079 your faith, to deny Do this and be filled with 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:52.180 the Holy Spirit and then God's love will flow 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:55.939 through you. And with the Holy Spirit flowing 00:06:55.939 --> 00:07:01.279 through you, then you will be able to truly love 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:05.139 your neighbor the way God has called us all to 00:07:05.139 --> 00:07:09.740 do. So let us prioritize our faith and seek first 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:13.660 the kingdom of heaven. May God work in all our 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:17.939 lives and sanctify us, for he is holy. Glory 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:18.980 to Jesus Christ.