Christ’s Power and Authority

Sermon Transcript

Pastor Jeff:

Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are. And Lord, we ask that in these moments that we have together, Lord, that you would do a work in and through us. Because Lord, we believe that every time that your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you speak and that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you have the ability to transform lives. So our prayer this morning is speak for we are ready to hear. And so now, for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus speak directly to you, who will believe what he says to you and who will be by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen?

Audience:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

Amen. Today, I want to talk to you about Christ's power and authority. Oftentimes in our life when we are lacking power for something, we know how to get it right. If we run out of gas and our car isn't moving, we know we got to go get a can of gas and fill up. We know if it's a cold day and our car doesn't start, it needs to get a jump and it needs to get started. We know in all different areas of our life, if the lamp doesn't have oil, we got to put oil in the lamp. We know what we need to get what we need to get done. But what about in our everyday life? Where do I get the power that I need? Where do I get the strength to endure? How do I handle this relationship? What about this phone call that I got from the doctor that says this is my health condition?

How can I live with this situation with my family? How do I handle this situation with a distant relative? How do I handle this situation at work? I'm not so sure what to do. And as Christians, oftentimes we're asking the question, what do I do? But what we're really asking is, where do I need to go to get the power that I need to get through this situation? If you've ever asked that question, the Lord has an answer for you. And the answer is himself. Jesus Christ has all authority and he has all power to do anything at any given time for anyone as he would see fit. And yet so often when we're in a difficult situation, our eyes do not go directly to Jesus, our eyes go somewhere else, and then problems continue and they continue to persist. If you've ever wondered, where do I get the power I need for this situation in my life? God has a word for you today, and he's going to show you how Jesus is all powerful over those things.

I'm going to invite you today, turn your Bible to Mark chapter five, turn your Bible to Mark chapter five, and we're going to continue our series called the Kingdom Invasion. The Kingdom Invasion is a series going into Easter where we're taking a look at what Jesus Christ did when he came into this world. Last week we took a look at Mark chapter one, took a look at 10 specific words that describe who Jesus is and what he was doing. But keep in mind this is a Kingdom Invasion. It's God's visible and manifest rule over the planet of which we live. He didn't come to just step into the world, he came because he's the king of the world. He came to take it over. And when we talk about invasion, we're not just talking about crossing the line, we're talking about coming in and taking over.

Do you know this? That Jesus Christ when it comes to your life, Jesus Christ when it comes to our church, Jesus Christ when it comes to our nation, and then when it comes to our world, he wants to take it over, because he is the king of kings and he is the Lord of lords. So we have to ask the question before we get started, just how powerful is Jesus? Just how powerful is He? I say He's all powerful, but let me give you some scripture to back what I'm saying so I'm not just telling you from my experience. I'll give you three different verses. How about John chapter one and verse three? It says, "All things came into being through him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being." So who created everything? Jesus did. Anything that exists, Jesus is the source of its life.

He created all people. He created all plants. He created all animal. He created anything, everything. In Colossians chapter one verses 16 and 17, it says, "For by him," we're talking about Jesus, "all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones are dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him, he is before all things. And in him all things hold together." So everything that is created on the earth and everything that was created in heaven, all the things that you can see with your eyes, and all the things that are real that you can't see, who created all those things? Jesus. And who is before all things, who's the Lord of all things? Jesus. In Hebrews chapter one and verse three, it says this, "And he is the exact radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power." It means, to see Jesus is to see God.

How powerful is God? All powerful. In six days, he literally created everything that you see and everything that you don't see. All thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities, all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things." So make no mistake about it, Jesus has all power. Now, power is ability or capability. So power says that you can get something done, but that differs a little bit from authority. What's authority? Authority is the right to enact the power that you have. There's a difference. For instance, I have the power or the capability today, if I were to leave the church and drive my truck out to I-25, and park it across the traffic lanes and leave it there, I can do that. I'm not going to do it, but I have the capability of doing that. What I do not have is the authority to get that done.

And because I don't have the authority, there would be some coming to my truck very quickly assuring me that it needed to be moved, and there would be consequences because I don't have the authority to exercise that level of power. So if Jesus has all the power in the universe, the question is, how much authority does he have to act upon that power? So I'm glad that you asked, because when Jesus commission his disciples in Matthew chapter 28, verses 18, before he commissions them, what does he say? "All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me. Therefore, go." So how much authority does he have? He has all authority. So he has all authority and he has all power, which means that any given time in any given way, he can exercise all of his power in any way that he wants at any time with anyone.

Isn't that good news? So he doesn't need to ask permission. He is the all authoritative one and he holds all the power. So as you turn to Mark chapter five, just know that as we turn there, Jesus has just come out of a situation with his disciples where they're on a boat heading to the other side of the sea of Galilee, and what happens? A furious squall, or a storm, comes upon their boat and they're all afraid that they're going to die. And what does Jesus do? He gets up and says, "Peace, be still." And the disciples are amazed. Why? Because even the winds and the waves obey him. If you've ever seen or been out on the water when it's super choppy, it takes a while for it to calm down. When Jesus said, "Peace, be still," what happens? It turned to glass like that.

Now, it shouldn't be surprising because if you know your Bible, the most controversial verse in the Bible in my opinion is Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens in the earth." And if you read through Genesis 1, you read that there is one God that created all things in six literal days and rested on the seventh. Now, if Jesus Christ is the one who did that, which the Bible says, "He was the mouthpiece speaking forth for the Father and the spirit of God was the one building it all," if Jesus is the one that created everything with his spoken word, how hard is it for him to enter as incarnate flesh, fully God and fully man, and then operate within that system that he's already created and do everything he wants to do? When he calms the storm, what's the big deal about that? He created the entire universe. He created the entire universe.

So for him on a specific day, to take one of the little seas that he created on the planet earth in which he designed for human beings and say, "Peace, be still," is that too hard for him? No. Here's what I want you to see, nothing's too hard for him. The circumstances in your life that you think are insurmountable, they are not too difficult for him. And that's a backdrop to where we're going to get today. That's a backdrop to where we're going to get because we're going to talk about how Jesus Christ has all power and all authority over three different areas from this story. And it's just three different words you need to remember. If you can't remember a sermon outline, this would be the one I try to commit to memory.

There's only three words we're going to talk about today. And the first is this, that Jesus Christ has all authority and all power over demons, over demons. Sometimes the word in the New Testament is unclean spirit, demonic influence. Jesus has all authority and all power over demons. Notice what the text says, "Now they've gotten to the other side of the lake. It says they came to the other side of the sea into the country of the Gerasenes," means they're on the east side of the sea of Galilee. "When he got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs and no one was able to bind him anymore even with a chain, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains and the chains had been broken and torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one, not one person was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains and gashing himself rather with stones."

So do you get the picture of what's going on here? Where does Jesus take these guys? He takes them to meet one of the most demonized people on the planet at that time. Who's taking them there? Jesus. See, we have a false picture of Jesus sometimes that if we love Jesus and that we're with Jesus, he'll only put us in safe environments, he'll only put us with loving people, he'll only get us around people that are going to affirm who we are. And I got news for you, sometimes Jesus is the one who takes us into places where we would not otherwise want to go. Where does he take him? He takes him to a demonized man. What do we know about this man so far? Well, this man is no longer living with society. You know why? Because society can't handle him. This man has been put out into the tombs. He's put out into the caves. That's where he is going to go.

And what's going to happen when he gets there? Well, they're going to chain them up. Because this man's so powerful, he needs to be chained up. Why? Because the townspeople are afraid of him. And do the chains work? No, they don't work. The chains and the shackles on his hands and his feet, he's broken through them all, there's not one person in society that can subdue him. So he's out there in the middle of the wilderness, in the tombs, and what's he doing all day long? He's crying out. He's in pain. He's screaming and he's gashing himself with rocks. Question, is this where you want to go spend your afternoon? Here's what I want you to see before we go anywhere else, nobody is beyond the reach of Jesus Christ. That's what I want you to see.

Some of you have family members and you've mouthed these words before friends, and you've mouthed these words before fellow students, and you've mouthed these words before co-employees or employers, and you've mouthed these words before people that are your boss, or superior, or subordinate, and you mouthed these words before, that person's way too far for Jesus to ever do anything with them. If you've ever said that, ask forgiveness for that because nobody is beyond the reach of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody. This man's not going to be beyond the reach of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet this is a man that none of us would want to be around. The townspeople are scared of him, townspeople don't know what to do with him. There's no solution for this guy.

We have people in our culture that we tend to put out to the side and we think there's no help for them. We can't do anything about this group or that group and we put them aside. And even if we don't do it intentionally, even in our hearts as Christians, we try not to think about people like this or people like that. And you can fill in the blanks for which people come into your mind, and none of the people that you would say that about are too far from the reach of Jesus. Why? Because every man, woman, boy, and girl, that God created is created as an image bearer that he loves, that he wants to be in relationship with. You see that? So where is he taking his disciples? Right to the man. Right to the man. Now, here's what happens. As this guy's screaming among the tombs and in the mountains and all that stuff, verse six says, "Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before him." It says man sees Jesus, he starts running towards Jesus.

Now, I don't know about you, but based on what I know about this man, if I was on a mission trip taking a walk towards a guy like that and he started running towards me, I don't know that I would stand my ground. Right? And yet that's what happens. He runs and then he drops to his knees before Jesus. It's hard to know here if it's the demonic influence or if it's him, but we certainly know when we hear the talking that it's really the demons that are talking. And shouting with a loud voice, here's what he said, "What business do we have with each other? Jesus son of the most high God, I implore you by God, do not torment me."

Now, I think that's a demon that's talking there. And here's what you need to know about demons, you don't need to be afraid of them. You don't need to be afraid of them. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the king of kings, he's the Lord of lords, he has all authority over them. Jesus Christ is not a created being. He's the eternal God of the universe. The devil is a created being. Because the devil is created, yes, he's powerful, yes, he's wicked, yes, he's all those things, he's more powerful than you or I or anybody else. But here's what you can know, he's not more powerful than God. He can only be in one place at one time. So we use words like this, hey, the enemy is coming against me. Well, the reality is, his influence is, and some of his hordes of demonic influence are, but Satan can only be at one place at one time.

So chances are, it's not Satan himself that's coming after you because he can't be in two places at the same time. And you're probably not high enough on the food chain, and neither am I, for him to come directly after us. But he does have those under his charge and under his care that can be influential in a negative way in our life. And that's what's going on with this guy. He's speaking, Satan himself has not entered this guy, but we're going to see there's a horde of demons inside of him, and Jesus is going up. And notice what the demons do, here's what you have to understand, even the demons are under the authority of God. You need to know that. They're not just free to roam and do whatever they want, they're under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Three things I noticed about the demons. One, they come and kneel before Jesus. Number two, they use his divine name, son of the most high God. And number three, you know what they do? They start begging for mercy, like we're supposed to be the tormenters here, please don't torment us. They know for time and space that they can be tormentors, but they ultimately know that they're going to be tormented for all eternity. And they're begging of Jesus in this moment, don't start the torment now, give us a break, have mercy on us. Here's what I want you to see, Jesus Christ is more powerful than demons. Jesus Christ is not flinching. Jesus Christ is not turning his back and running away. Jesus Christ is standing firm. Notice verse eight, "For he had been saying to him, come out of the man you unclean spirit." He's been talking to the demon horde inside saying, "Come out of him."

And he was asking, "What is your name?" And notice how the demon responds, the unclean spirit, "And he said to him, 'my name is Legion, for we are many.' " Legion, in the first century... A Roman army had a regiment of 6,000 guys that was called a legion. So could there have been 6,000 demons? Yeah, maybe. It also meant a mob. It's how we use the word ton. If you're carrying something to your car and you're like, "How much does that weigh?" "Oh, it weighs a ton." Well, literally, it doesn't weigh a ton or you wouldn't be carrying it, you're just saying it weighs a lot. When the demon speaks and said legion, he's saying this, "We got a mob going on in here. There's many of us." Were there 6,000, were there 2000, were there 3000? We don't know. We're going to see about 2000 pigs go off a cliff later, but that doesn't mean there was one demon for each pig.

What it means is, there's a lot of demonic activity in this man, so much so that they're controlling part of who he is. They're controlling his life. So it's not just one influencer, it's several in his life. And notice what happens next. Notice what happens next. The demons implored them saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them." Because they begin to implore them, don't send us out of the country, and there's this herd of swine feeding nearby in the mountain, and the demons implored them said, "Send us into the swine so we can enter them." Send us to the pigs. Going into pigs will be better than going into the abyss. And you want to know how bad the abyss is? You want to know how bad hell is? The people would rather go inside a pig than go to hell. That's where the demons want to go.

Jesus gave them permission. Check this out. They have to get permission from Jesus to do what they're doing. Because Jesus has all authority. Jesus has all power. "And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about 2000 of them, and they were drowned in the sea." This was the original Bay of Pigs Invasion. Can you picture that? Some of you been around farms, I grew up in the Midwest, saw farms all the time. If you haven't, just drive out through Nebraska someday, you'll get to see plenty. You can picture what it looked like to have 2000 pigs there on a hillside, and if you didn't have biblical revelation and you didn't know the reason for what was going on, all of a sudden, you would've just seen a lot of oinking, and a lot of running, and a lot of floating pigs.

That's what happened. 2000 of them died in the sea that very day, that very moment. That's what was going on. So what happens? So what happens? A story needs to be told. It said, "The herdsman, the people that were taking care of the pigs, ran away and reported it in the city and in the country, and the people came to see what it was that had happened." So you can picture these herdsmen that are taking care of these swine, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, 2000 of them run off and jump into the water. They're all dead. So the herdsmen go tell the whole town, "You'll never believe what happened. There's Jesus there, there's this guy, he's doing these things, and as he was saying to go, here's what happened to our pigs. You got to come see this for yourself."

And notice what happens in verse 15, "They came to Jesus," and notice what they observed, "and they observed the man who had been demon possessed, literally demonized, sitting down, clothed in his right mind, the very man who had the legion, and they became frightened." So what's the first thing they notice? They get there and they see this guy, this guy that was a terror, this guy that's screaming and crying at the mountains, living in the tombs, gashing himself with stones, unable to be controlled, unable to have anything in his life where he could be subdued. People didn't like him. People were afraid of him. People saw him. Now they come and he's just sitting there. Totally normal. Totally normal. The demonic powers left, he's got peace in his heart. He's standing there. The people come and they see him first and now what are they? They're scared to death.

Now, they were scared of him before, but now they're even more scared because how did this happen? There was no hope for this guy. How did this change? What's going on? They're frightened, and so they start taking a look around at what else happened. Those who had seen it, described to them how it had happened to the demonized man and about all the swine. So here's what they see, they hear the story. Jesus came, this man was screaming, he was crying. Jesus was calling the demon out, asked him his name, he said it was Legion. He said, "Be gone." He sent them, and then when they left, they went into the pigs, they killed all the pigs, and noticed this man here, he is doing great now. And they're scared to death, what do we do? What would you do? We read this story and we think that's awesome, he's totally healed, and it was just pigs. Anyway. Who really cares? Aren't they going to celebrate Jesus for the healing of this man?

Notice what happened, "And they begin to implore him," verse 17, "to leave their region." They see this man that was demonized as totally healthy now because all the demons left him and went into the pigs, and when they get there, they see Jesus and they're like, "You need to get out of our town. We don't like you here. You're ruining our industry. You're ruining our economic engine. You're ruining our financial future. These are our swine. This is what we're raising. This is what we're doing. You're destroying businesses here. We're superstitious, and if you stick around, you might destroy other things too. We don't want that here."

It's really interesting because when you study this, what you see is that the herdsman and the people preferred demons to Jesus, and they cared more about pigs than they did about a man. And you say, "Man, that's so bad." We do the same thing, don't we? We categorize groups of people and we say, "They're too far gone." That political party over there, that sexual orientation over there, that group of people over there, that group of people over here, they're too far gone, listen, stay away from us. We don't want any of your garbagey influence on our lives.

The Kingdom Invasion was Jesus going to the garbage in their lives and bringing the goodness and bringing light into the darkness. What is he called us to do? He hasn't just called us together for worship. Oh, he has, and we're called to come together and sing his praises, and we're called to come together and hear his word, and we're called to encourage one another, and build one another, and love one another. For what purpose? To go into the darkness, and take a light into the darkness, and to love all the people that are completely unlovable because prior to you getting saved, you were unlovable too.

Audience:

That's right.

Pastor Jeff:

Some of you that are sitting here... well, I'll say this, all of you sitting here that know Christ, for one time walking in the darkness according to biblical revelation. Some of you sitting here were walking in an extreme darkness before you came into the light. And yet, even though we believe that, we try to avoid the darkness rather than knowing that Christ is the light and the hope of the world and our job is to take the gospel to people. And do we really care? Do we really care that if people in different socioeconomic backgrounds, or political backgrounds, or the way that they group themselves and their identity, if they came to know Christ and said, "Thanks for sharing the gospel with me, I'm now clothed in my right mind and I love Jesus," would that excite us or would we say, "No, we don't want anything to do with them. As long as we can still do church together as a family, I'm okay with that"?

See, that's what the people were saying there, Jesus was going into a place to show them that he was powerful over the demonic. He was powerful over demons. Now, notice this guy, this guy everybody was afraid of, this guy nobody wanted anything to do with, after he meets Jesus, and he's set free, and he's delivered, and his heart is in peace, it says this, "As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demonized was imploring him that he might accompany him," literally means that he might be with him. When Jesus called his disciples in Mark three, verse 14, he called out of the masses 12 that he might be with him.

One of the things that happens when you get saved is a desire to be with Jesus. That's normal. You'll go from being religious or irreligious to saying, "I just want to spend time with Jesus. I love Jesus. This isn't religion for me. This isn't anything other than I want to be with Jesus." But Jesus did not let him, but he said to him, "Go to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." Tell other people how great I've been to you, tell other people how merciful I've been to you." And notice what the man did in verse 20, "And he went away and began to proclaim into capitalist, which was the 10 cities surrounding them, what great things Jesus had done to him. And everyone was amazed."

He sends him on a gentile mission. We know he was a Gentile because Jews didn't have pigs. So it was a Gentile mission. He's sending them to the Gentiles saying, "I care about the Gentiles too, not just the Jews. What was Jesus saying? I care about all people. We'll have eternity to spend time together, but you, you go to them and you tell them. And there's two things that should happen simultaneously when you become a believer, when you're truly born again, there will be a desire to be with Jesus, and there will be a desire and a willingness to tell everybody about how good he is and what he's done in your life. I remember when I got saved at the age of 18, I grew up in the church. I had a lot of scripture memorized because I went to a Lutheran grade school from kindergarten through eighth grade. So I had nine years of catechism and Bible verses memorized. And that's all it was, was a rote exercise and routine.

When I got saved, all those things made sense immediately. When I got saved, I wanted to be around Jesus. When I got saved, I went back and told my family, "I don't know what just happened to me, but I have something you all have and you need to get it." "How do I do that?" I'm like, "You need to go back to camp with me," because I didn't know how to tell them about the gospel. I didn't know anything, I just knew I'd changed. That's what happens to a believer when you meet Jesus. It's different than your current religion, or it's different than how you are irreligious. You may not know all the facts, but it's like the guy in John chapter nine, "I don't know. All I know is I was blind, and now I see, and he did it." That's the gospel.

That's the simplicity and clarity of the gospel. This guy's saying, "Jesus, I want to come with you. I want to be with you." And he is like, "No, don't come. I got purpose for your life. Go tell all those Gentile cities, the capitalists, those 10 cities, you go tell them how good I've been to you, how merciful I've been to you. And they'll know that if I can do it for you, I can do it for anybody." And our testimony is a fact that if God can do it for us, he can do it for anybody. And that's what we see here. So I want you to see two things here. Number one is, Jesus has all power and all authority over demons. Which means this, when we're talking about a nonbeliever, it means you don't need to be scared anywhere God sends you because he has authority and power over anything that you would come up against.

I've been in certain cultures and I've been to India and other places in the world where there's a lot of demonic activity. You can feel it, you can see it, and all those things, there's nothing to be afraid of. Because everywhere you go and everyone you talk to, every person you see, needs Jesus, and every person you're talking to, Jesus Christ was willing to lay down his life on a cross for non-believers. But what about believers? Well, how does this play out in the life of believers? If you're a believer in Christ, the Bible makes clear from the moment that you've trusted Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in your life, that you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you are controlled by the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. No one can take the Holy Spirit from you. And if you were to die, no matter when you die, you would immediately go to heaven because you are Christ, and no one can snatch you out of Christ's hands.

However, here's the thing, can demons torment Christians? Can demons oppress Christians? 100%, absolutely, yes. We have a false idea, sometimes we'll hear people when they're getting ready to go on a mission trip, "Hey, we got to be aware. There's a lot of demon activity over in this country." To which I'm saying, "Do you not see it in our country?" It's not like you can build walls around demons and keep them from coming in. They're going to get through, right? But in the West, we tend to think that everything has a physical solution for it, and we don't think first that it's a spiritual condition that may require some physical things. So as a Christian, the devil can't possess you, he can't control you, but you can give him opportunity in your life based upon the books you read, the music you listen to, the choices that you make, the unforgiveness that you keep, and all those things, to invite opposition and oppression from demonic influence in your life.

And I don't believe there's a demon behind every rock, and I don't think everything is demonization. Sometimes, if you're struggling in a sin, it's simply being discipled, it's reading the word, and praying, and worshiping, and hearing what God says, "Hey, you need to leave that relationship. You need to get out of this. You need to start taking some steps that way." And by doing that, you can walk in freedom. But there's some of you that have worshiped and sought the Lord, and you read the Bible, and you pray, and you worship, and you tithe, and you serve, and you give, and you are growing in Christ, yet there's this one area of your life, no matter how long you live, instead of getting better, it continues to get worse and there's nothing you can do about it. And then you start to make agreements with that area and you say stuff like this, "As a Christian, well, that's just the way I am. I'm always going to have this burden until I meet Jesus, and it's always going to be hard for me."

That can be a sign that you have oppression in your life from demonic activity. Guys, I hear you say stuff like this all the time. Someone say it's porn, that's that's the thing. And here's the truth, if you read the word and you're going to have clarity in your eyes and clarity in your mind, and you're going to make an agreement not to look lustfully at a woman, and God shows you how to do that, then fantastic, that's great. But for some of you, you've gone through every single step you can take, and no matter what happens, when you trigger, it's porn. And instead of getting better, it's gotten worse over the years. For some of you, it's anger. Ladies, for some of you, it's your identity. Here's how you know that there's demonic influence in your life, when you look in the mirror and you hear the voice coming back from the person that you see that says stuff like this, "I'm lousy, I'm no good, I hate myself, how come I'm doing this? There's no good in me, all that kind of stuff.

That's not the voice of the Lord. Because we know our identity in Christ. And here's what we would say about our identity in Christ. I am chosen. I am loved. I am holy. I am righteous. I am good. I am a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. The devil can't touch me. That's who I am, that's what I'm living in. That's true for every Christian. And yet some can't say it because of opposition from a demonic or unclean spirit in their life.

And here's what I would say to you, you don't have to live under that for the rest of your life. It can be gone in the name of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is powerful over that, and he has all authority over that. And sometimes it's through unforgiveness, sometimes some of you have been through such trauma in your life that because of something you didn't even do but was acted upon you from the time you were 4, 7, 10, 11, there was an opportunity for the enemy to come in, and speak a lie into your life that you ended up believing over a period of time. And you find yourself doing the thing that you don't want to do even though you know it's wrong and you can't find a way to stop. That's sometimes a sign that there's demonic activity going on in your life.

And here's the truth, I heard Pastor Cal say it last week, "You cannot counsel a demon, and you cannot cast out the flesh." I have flesh in my life. You have flesh in your life. I can't just rid myself of my flesh. How cool would that be? Flesh in the sense of my sinful man. I wish he was gone and I didn't even know how to sin anymore. That would be awesome. Can't cast that out, that's going to be here. I got to disciple that, I got to grow in that. But you can't counsel demonic activity. You can't counsel a demon, you can't work with them. And for some people in the church, it's demonic activity. Whether you know it or not, you've seen it in people, people that genuinely love the Lord, and people that genuinely know the Lord, and people that'll come worship Sunday after Sunday. But there's some trigger that happens. And when they're angry, it looks like they're non-believer.

Or when they trigger and go to porn, it looks like they're a non-believer, or when they act out in a certain... they're not even acting like a believer anymore, but I know they know the Lord. What's going... That's demonic activity. And Jesus says, "I have all authority over that because I came to deliver you and let you walk in freedom. And friends, that's what we want to step into. We want to step into seeing people walk free. The people and the culture in Jesus' day, in that town, saw this man walk free, and you know what they said? "We liked it better when he was bound up and we had 2000 pigs." We care more about our money and what was going on than this guy's poor soul. May it never be of us. May we care more about the loss, may we care more about the broken, may we care more about those that are in Christ, that are under bondage, that Christ would come and have his way. Amen?

Christ has all authority and all power over demon. Second is this, Christ has all power and all authority over disease. Notice this next story, "When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him so he stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials," that means not just a guy that's Jewish, not just a guy that's going to the synagogue, he's one of the leaders. He's a religious leader of his day, "One of the religious leaders named Jairus came up and on seeing him, seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly saying, 'My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come lay your hands on her so that she will get well and live.' "

Who did Jesus have the hardest time with during his earthly ministry? Who were some of the people? Jewish religious leaders. Why? Because they thought their religion was more important than having a relationship with him. Now, here's one of the leaders, who's doing the Jewish religious thing, that's coming and falling at Jesus's feet saying, "My little girl's almost dead. But if you come, lay your hands on her, she'll live." What's happened to that guy? He's realizing his religion doesn't work. Religion doesn't work. When people come into church sometimes they want to know, do we stand up? Do we sit down? Do we stand? Do we sit? Do we do this? What do I say? I don't know what to... That won't help you. Jesus will. He's realizing his religion is no good and he needs Jesus. So he's imploring him and begging him.

Why is he doing that? Because he's probably been one of the voices that's been a naysayer saying, "What are you doing in our land? And why are you changing our religious system?" Now that something that matters so much to him, his little girl is dying, he doesn't care what he needs to do, he just wants to get help for his little girl. And anybody that's a parent knows exactly how he feels. You would do anything for your kids. You would do anything to see them get the help that they need. So he is begging him, please. So what does Jesus say? Do you picture Jesus saying, "Well, you had your chance and why don't you go pray your Jewish prayers and see what happens. You'll learn"? No. Why? Because Jesus is merciful and compassionate to all people. Isn't that the beauty of Jesus?

Even when we do things and say things that aren't the way that God would want, he still comes back and shows mercy when we need him. Notice what he says, "And he went off with him." He went off with him. Okay, you want me to come? I'll go with you. And it says, "And a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him." Now, how large is a large crowd? Here's what I want you to picture. I want you to picture going into or coming out of a sporting event or concert. I want you to picture where you're surrounded by so many people that you're looking for the people that you came in, whether it was your spouse, or your kids, or your friends, and you see him over there and over there. You got to keep your eye on him because there's so many people crowding. You can't walk in a straight line. That's what was going on with Jesus.

That's the crowd. There's a mob following Jesus. And what's he on his way to do? He's on to go heal Jairus's who? Little daughter. He's going to heal his daughter. Why? Because he cares, because he's compassionate, because he cares about this man and he cares about his daughter. Now notice what happens. Verse 25 says, "A woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years." Now, I don't know about you, but when I'm sick for an hour, that feels like a long time to me. When I'm been laid up for a couple of days, it feels like an eternity. When I had throat surgery and couldn't speak for three weeks, that felt like 10 years. Some of you that have been sick for a week upon week, that's forever, month upon month, that's a long time.

Two years, man, it's forever, it's an eternity. This woman's had a bleeding condition for how long? 12 years. 12 years. That's a long time. When you're sick and you're ill for a period of time, that's all you're thinking about when you're waking up, that's all you're thinking about during your day, and that's all you're thinking about when you're falling asleep, and she's been doing that for 12 entire years. And notice where we learn about her, "And she had endured much at the hands of many physicians and had spent all she had, and was not helped at all but had rather grown worse. After hearing about Jesus, she's going to come up with a plan. So what's this woman's problem? Well, she's got a myriad of problems. She's got a health problem. When you have a health problem and you feel bad all the time, that's problem in and of itself.

But she has more than just a health problem. She's got a financial problem too, because she's gone and spent all the money that she has on doctors, yet instead of getting better, she's worse. So now she's broke and she's got a health problem. What else does she have? Well, she got a religious problem too. I don't know if you know this or not, but the religion of the day said that when you had this type of condition, when you walked into society, you had to yell the words unclean. I'm unclean. So that the people near you could get away from you so that they wouldn't contract what you may have. So she can't attend religious services. She can't seek God that way, which is also going to create what she has with a social problem. Very difficult to make friends that way, wouldn't you guess?

If every time you have to walk and see somebody, you have to yell unclean so that they run away from you. She's hopeless. This is an all-consuming ongoing life problem. Some of you that I'm talking about to today know exactly how she feels. You've had a condition in your life that's been ongoing, all-consuming and there seems to be no end. That's where she's living. She can't go to synagogue, she can't get with friends, she can't have people pray with her, she doesn't have enough money, she's not going to eat, she doesn't have a husband that can provide, she's got nothing going on for her in her life, except for her one plan. Notice what she says in verse 27, "After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind him and touched his cloak, for she thought, if I just touch his garment, I will get well."

Here's two things she did have going for, and two things that we can always have going for us. The first is this, desperation. Desperation is a good thing, because when you're desperate, you start looking for answers. When you're desperate, you start seeking things out. When things are bad, but they're okay, you still think you're in control of your life. That's not a great place to be because, usually, you find out very quickly you can't fix it anyway, but for a while you think you can. But when you're desperate, you know nothing's going to change. She had desperation going for her. And number two, she had this. She had faith going for her. Faith is when in your desperation, you look to Jesus. You're not looking at the world, you're not looking to someone else. You're not looking to money. You're not looking to solve a problem. You're just like, "I'm desperate and I need Jesus." If I can teach you anything from this sermon today, when you're desperate, look to Jesus.

Because if you have Jesus, you'll have everything you need, even if you don't have everything you think that you need. She's desperate and she needs Jesus. So she gets his idea, if I can just touch the back of his garment, the hem of his cloak, I know I'll be healed. I believe that. He don't even need to look at me. I just need Jesus, that's what I need. So that's what she does. Now, how's she's going to get to Jesus? Because it's true, if she comes in society, she's going to have to yell unclean. If she yells unclean, everybody's going to part or send her away. So she's got to hide, she's got to come through the crowd, she's got to disguise herself, she's got to get up near Jesus, she's got to fight, and claw, and scratch.

Here's what she's saying, "I don't care what happens. Come hell or high water, I'm touching his garment. It's the only hope I have left." Same hope you see in Bartimaeus. Disciples tell him, "Stop bothering the master." He cries out all the louder, "This is the only chance I'll ever have to see." When you're desperate and you want Jesus like that, you can't expect him to move. So she comes and touches the him of his garment. She's desperate. She's laying out for him. Wish we had video of this. Someday we will.

And guess what happens when she touches him? Verse 29, "Immediately, the flow of her blood was dried up." Now, if you've been bleeding for 12 straight years and hemorrhaging for 12 straight years, and immediately when you touch Jesus's garment, it's like... over. What's this woman going to start feeling on the inside? Spiritually, emotionally, physically, all those things. And notice what it says, "She says, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction." 12 years and it's like, it's over. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. "Immediately, Jesus perceiving in himself that the power proceeding from him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my garments?' " Okay. Now picture this, the Father released through the son the healing power. Jesus knows, he feels the power go out from him. The back of his garments touched, Jesus feels the power and he starts turning around. He's like, "Who touched me?"

Now, how many people are there? There's a myriad of people. It would be like coming in and out of Ball Arena, or Mile High Stadium, or something like that, with crowds of people at a concert or a game, and then somebody saying, "Who just touched me?" And be like, "Come on, man. Seriously?" But what did the disciples said? That's how they respond. He said, "Who touched me?" He said, "Who touched my garments?" And the disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you and you say, "Who touched me?" Jesus, everybody's touching you. We got parents throwing kids at you. We got people high-fiving you. If you've ever seen a star athlete, or politician, or somebody that's famous, a singer or something, when they're in a crowd, people are always trying to do one of these.

They're trying to... I mean, I touched their clothes like, hey, throw me a shirt. That's what's going on with Jesus. They're they're seeing that he can deliver from demons, they're seeing he can heal the sick, they're giving everybody to him. He's like, he stops. Now, how important was his journey? He's going to heal a 12-year-old girl that's going to die. It's pretty important, yet he stops, "Who touched me?" He starts looking around for this woman, he hears his dad say, "There's a woman that just got healed." He starts looking for her. He's like, "Who touched me?" Stops like, "Everybody's touching you, what are you talking about?" But he kept looking around to see the woman who had done this. Verse 33, "But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth."

So here comes this woman, and she's trembling and she's like, "Here's what happened. For 12 years, I've been hemorrhaging. I've spent all my money. Doctors can't heal me. Nobody can heal me. I just knew that if I got to you, you could heal me. And I touched your garment and I'm healed, and I'm totally healed. And you did it. And thank you. You don't even need to be around me." Show him everything. And here's what he says to her, notice the first word he says to her. Now, keep in mind who he's going to heal, he's healing Jairus's daughter. Now, what does Jesus say to her? "Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed from your affliction."

Jesus is on his way to heal Jairus's daughter, but on the way he has to stop because he wants to heal his own daughter. Isn't that cool? If you've repented of your sins and trusted Christ and you're a woman, you're the daughter of the King. If you're repented of your sins and trusted Christ and you're a man or a boy, you are a son of the King. You belong to him. Jesus has time to stop one of the most important ministry times in his calendar to stop for his own children. Isn't that beautiful? Now, think about this, because we're going to learn later that this little girl's 12 years old, this woman's had a bleeding condition for the entire time of that little girl's life.

And on the way to heal this 12 year old girl, he stops for his own daughter who suffered for that entire time and said, "Daughter, your sins are healed too. Be at peace." Isn't that awesome? See, Jesus Christ has all authority and all power over disease. Now, here's what I want to say about that. It means that, doesn't mean we shouldn't use modern medicine, doesn't mean we shouldn't go see doctors, by all means do that, it means first and foremost, who should we look to? We should look to Jesus first. And Jesus has the ability and the power to heal. One day we're all going to be completely healed to have trusted Jesus. We know that day's coming.

And even if God does heal you on this side of heaven, it won't keep you from death. Even if God heals you of a chronic terminal disease, you're still going to die eventually. It's just a touch. And so sometimes in the West we're like, "Well, we don't need to pray about that." What if God doesn't heal? But what if he does? I think we leave too much on the table because we don't ask. God can choose because he has all authority and he has all power. So he gets to choose how he wants to heal, what he wants to heal, when he wants to heal, where he wants to heal, and why he wants to heal, and we don't know any of those things. But can we ask him in his mercy, "Lord, would you just heal this?" Not because we deserve it, but because you're merciful and gracious.

I've seen people healed. I know several of you in this room that I've seen healed from physical maladies. I also know people that used to sit in these seats that I know, that prayed by faith that God would heal them, that are now healed, that they're in heaven, but God didn't heal them on this side of heaven. That doesn't mean that God doesn't heal, but it does mean that we should spend more time praying for God to heal, and trusting that God can heal, and believing that He does. See, when we're desperate, we realize that Jesus has all authority and all power over demons, he has all authority and all power over disease. But then I want to give you a third one, and this may be the most important, that Jesus has all authority and all power over death, over death.

Now he's on his way to the house. Now it's time to go heal that 12 year old girl, and notice what happens, "While he was still speaking. So he is talking to this gal that's had this 12 year infirmity, "and while they're speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official saying, 'Your daughter has died. Why trouble to teach her anymore?' " So one of the other leaders in the synagogue that Jairus would've known, that was a good friend of his, that knew Jesus was on the way to heal his daughter, sends message to Jesus saying, "Don't bother him anymore. She's dead. She died." Those of you that have been around somebody that dies, you know how tragic it is. There's never a timely time for someone to die. Maybe if they're 104 and on hospice, we can even wrap our mind around it, but there's still not a good time when death actually arrives where we're like, "I'm so glad about that."

But especially when it's a child. Because the normative circumstance would be that parents outlive their children. And some of you here have dealt with the pain of losing a child and just how painful that is. And while I can sympathize with you, I've never experienced the level of pain that you've had. His daughter's dead. Don't bother Jesus anymore, but notice what Jesus says, "But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, 'Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.' " Two things I want to have you say, don't fear, just believe. That's all Jesus says. He doesn't go into detail, he doesn't give editorial remark, just stop living in fear, just believe me. And he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

Oftentimes he brought those three with him, out of the 12, to go do special things. They came to the house of the synagogue official and he saw commotion and people loudly weeping and wailing. Why wouldn't they be? Why wouldn't they be? Israel was known for a group of people that knew how to grieve well. They give people a period of a month when someone died just to grieve and just to cry. We think grief can happen at a funeral service. I cried, I'm getting over it, I'm going to be fine. Grief lasts a long, long time. Did you know that? And the closer you are to somebody, the longer that grief lasts. People are starting to grieve, they're starting to cry, they're wailing. There's a massive commotion. But I've known grief, you've known grief. I lost a good friend of mine six weeks before I graduated from high school.

And I remember two or three years later, there were times I could be driving my car and something would trigger about my friend and I could start crying in the car for no apparent reason other than I'm still grieving the loss of somebody that I love, that's normative. Here, this girl dies, and guess what they're doing? They're grieving. They're wailing. And I've been in situations like this before as an officiant at a funeral. When people are doing that, the best thing to do is come alongside and just be silent. Hold hands, maybe hug, maybe put your arm around somebody, maybe bring a tissue. Just don't say much, just be with the person because there's no words that are going to soothe the situation. On all things, God works for the good, brother. I know you're going to be F, you're going to be fine, we're going to get through... it doesn't help when you're grieving, does it?

We know that, true, it still doesn't help. So is that what Jesus does? He just comes silently. Here's what Jesus says, "Upon entering in, he said to them, 'Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died but is asleep.' " Sounds like Dr. Seuss. Can you imagine, you've lost your loved one, he is like, "Why are you wailing and weeping? Child's not dead. She's just asleep." Seems very insensitive. It says, "But they begin laughing at him," literally, that word means scorning him, mocking him like, "Why are you coming into our place where we're all hurting, and we're all grieving, and you're telling us she's just sleeping? We know what death is. She's dead." And notice what happens next, "He took along putting them all out." So he got rid of everybody, except he took along the child's father and mother and his three companions, and they entered the room where the child was.

So he takes Peter, James, and John, the mom and the dad, he walks into the room, and here's what happens, "Taking the child by the hand, he said, "Talitha koum," which translated means, "little girl, I say to you, get up. Immediately, the girl got up and began to walk for she was 12 years old. And immediately, they were completely astounded. And he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this. And he said that something should be given to her to eat. He tells them, "Now, don't tell anybody because I haven't gotten the cross and rose from the dead. And I don't just want people to love me for the miracles I can do. I want them to love me because I died on their place for all their sin. So don't tell anybody."

So what's he do? Takes Peter, James, and John into the room, he doesn't make big commotion, takes mom and dad, walks over, takes this seemingly dead girl by the hand, says, "Little girl, I tell you, get up." And immediately she gets up, and immediately they're astonished, and as she's walking around because they're probably blown away, he's like, "You probably need to get her something to eat because she's been laying there for a while and she's going to need some nourishment." And then he moves on his way. Jesus Christ is powerful over death. Now, I've heard stories, from the time I've been a Christian, of people that have been raised from the dead on this side of heaven. I read about some in my Bible, I've never seen one.

I don't necessarily doubt them. Some of them I'm skeptical of that I've heard. But what's the big deal for us? Can Jesus raise the dead on this side of heaven? I think he can. I just don't personally, I haven't had any experience with it. But here's what I do know, he's able to take someone who is lifeless and apart from Christ and give them his very life so that they can live forever. And every time somebody is saved, that's Jesus raising the dead. That's what he does and he demonstrated, Amen?

And he demonstrated this when he died on the cross. And three days later, he validated himself as the eternal son of God by rising up out of the grave saying, "I have the power to do this. I have all authority to do this." And here's what I want you to see today, the Jesus that you say you serve, he is powerful over all demons. And he has authority over all demons. He has all authority and power over all disease. He has authority and power over even death. And here's the reality, no matter how many creams that you put on your face, or no matter how much hair tonic you use, or whatever, you're going to die at some point in time. You don't know when the day is, it's already been set. It's already been set. My days have already been numbered, your days have already been numbered, we just get to use them for the best that we can while we're here.

But here's the good news, for those who have repented and trusted in Jesus, the day that you breathe your last on this planet, will be the day and the second that you're the most alive, the most healed, and the most whole for now and forevermore. Amen? Amen?

And we share the gospel. We believe it. But friends, the reason people need to hear about Jesus is not because they're bad people doing bad things, doing wrong stuff they should be punished for, it's because they're dead, and dead people need to be made alive by Jesus. That's why we take the gospel. People need to know they're not stuck in a rut. Non-Christian demonized, people need the gospel. Christians who love the Lord, who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, who cannot be overtaken by a demon but have been oppressed by a demon, can learn that Jesus Christ can free you from that. And whoever the son sets free, is free indeed. Some of you here, some of you here, I know you know that God's talking to you this morning because you love the Lord and you love who he is, but there's this area of your life you've just never been able since you were 12 to get over to.

It just follows you everywhere you go. Jesus wants to set you free from that. And for some of you, you have a disease, and again, I encourage you to go see your doctor and I encourage you to trust Doctor. I'm not a medical doctor. I'm not going to prescribe medication or tell you to stop taking it. I'm not going to tell you what surgery you should have or what you shouldn't. That's between you and your physician. But here's what I will say, let's go to Jesus first. Maybe what we can do is just pray for your healing today too. The way that we're going to end our service today is, as we sing two songs on both our campuses, give an opportunity for you to come forward for prayer. Sometimes people don't come forward for prayer because if I come forward for prayer, it's going to look like I have all these problems.

Everybody knows you have a bunch of problems. We all have problems. What we see is, I'm done with this problem. I'm desperate. I just want some prayer. I want to see Jesus deliver me from this. I'd like to ask for his compassion on healing. I'd like to ask for his compassion on this demonic activity. I'd like to ask for his compassion on just my own salvation. I walked in here this morning I'm not sure that I know the Jesus of the Bible. And I want to know him. And I don't want it to be weird, and I don't want it to be anything else, other than I want someone to pray for me. And I want someone to pray with me that genuinely loves me and cares for me. And I want to see some things lifted because I want to live for Jesus.

So that's what we're going to do. We're just going to sing a couple songs and we're going to trust Jesus to do his ministry. After those songs, there are still more people that want to be prayed for like there wasn't first [inaudible 00:56:50], we'll continue to pray for you as long as you want. We're here. We can stay here all day. Even though it's my son's birthday and he wants to go celebrate at some point in time, that's okay. All right. But we want you to be rightly related to the Lord. We want to see God do his work in and through his church. Amen. Would you stand with me as we pray? Our Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor, and praise, because every single person is listening to this message, you love. Every single person listening to this message, you created. Every single person listening to his message, you want to see set free to know you personally as the Lord, to be delivered, to be healed and to be whole.

And Lord, we realize that on this side of heaven, this is not demanding perfection. But Lord, what we do know is on this side of heaven, that you can give us glimpses of your goodness and we're asking you to move. If you're here today and you never trusted in Jesus, you can say, Lord, I believe that you are God. And right now, I want to turn from my sins and trust you as my personal Lord and Savior. Come into my life and save me now. God, we just pray that as the elders are up here and pastors are up here, Lord, there'll be a number of people getting prayed for. And Lord, that you would do a work that can only be attributed to you. And we give you all the glory, and all the honor, and all the praise in Jesus's name. Amen and Amen. Let's worship the Lord.