Jesus Still Delivers

We're praising the God that picked us up and turned us around, gave us a brand new lease on life, and a hope for eternity. If that's your Jesus today, I want you to clap your hands together as we praise him. Here we go. Mary. Wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide this weary soul. This bag of bones, that I drove with all my might, but I couldn't win the fight. I was slowly drifting. Oh, bag of bones. And just when I ran out of rope. And just when I ran out of rope. I met a man I did not know. He told me that I was not alone. And He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because He healed my heart. He changed my name. I'm never free. I'm not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Oh, we thank You, Jesus. I cannot deny what I've seen. Got no choice but to believe. My doubts are burning. Oh, like ashes in the wind.

So, so long to my old friends. Both burden and bitterness. Oh, you can just keep it moving. Oh, you ain't welcome here. No, no. From now. From now till I walk streets of gold. I'll sing of how You saved my soul. This wayward son has found his way back home. He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because He healed my heart. He changed my name. I'm never free. I'm not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Oh, if you've got a reason to thank Him today, and that reason is because He saved your soul, can you give Him a hallelujah shout right here? We've got great joy because of this today. Hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell lost another one.

I am free. Oh, I am free. I am free. Said hell lost. Hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I'm been set free. I am free. I've been redeemed. I am free. I am free. Yes, I am free. Said hell lost another one. I am free. I'm been set free. In Jesus' name, hell lost another one. I was lost, but now I'm found. Oh, hell lost. Hell lost another one. Oh, Jesus paid the price. And I am free. Hell lost another one. Said I am free. And free indeed. Because he picked me up. Oh, he turned me around. He laid my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior.

Because he healed my heart. Oh, he changed my name. Oh, hell, I'm free. I'm not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Who do we thank, church? I thank God. God, you're the only one who was able. And we give you praise. We give you praise for paying the price, setting the captive free. Somebody shout hallelujah. Yes. Come on, put your hands together. Come on. Because when I could see the work of his fingers and what his hands have made, I said it all. I'm full of wonder. Out of hearts for what to say. But it starts a story deep in my spirit. And the pull is just too great. Come on. We lift it up. Oh, I can't help it. I can't. ♪ And help us worship, worship, worship the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord for who He is ♪ ♪ And all He's done because He lives we overcome in our will ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God ♪

Yeah! ♪ When I can see the love of the Savior in His unrelenting grace ♪ ♪ A heart full of passion and total surrender ♪ ♪ And then the power harked away, come on we sing ♪ ♪ It starts to stir, come on and the pull's too great ♪ ♪ The pull is just too great, oh I can't, come on we lift Him up ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our will ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord for who He is ♪ ♪ And all He's done because He lives we overcome in our will ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God ♪ ♪ He's the wonder working, new life birthing God who makes a way ♪ Come on we sing. ♪ He's the path erasing, sinner saving God who empties graves ♪ ♪ Jehovah giant, He's my provider, I'll bless His holy name ♪ ♪ I'll bless His holy name, oh I can't help but praise ♪ ♪ He's the wonder working, new life birthing God who makes a way ♪ Come on He's path erasing. ♪ He's the path erasing, sinner saving God who empties graves ♪ ♪ Jehovah giant, He's my provider, I'll bless His holy name ♪ ♪ I'll bless His holy name, oh I can't help but praise ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God our God ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God our God ♪ ♪ In all He's done, because He lives, we overcome in our will ♪ ♪ Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God our God our God ♪ Come on, this is your moment to worship Him, church. Come on, we lift praise to the King of kings, He is glorious. Come on, we lift Him up. Come on, lift some praise this morning, hallelujah.

Amen, church. Come on, we worship Jesus in this place. Come on, how many are thankful for Jesus, the name that we can call on in every situation? Would you just lift your hands and thank Jesus for His salvation, for His freedom, for His healing? Come on, that is who our God is this morning. So we worship with our hearts, our whole hearts, our whole minds, everything for Jesus. Come on, just respond to Him in this moment. Thank Him for who He is. We sing together. ♪ I could sing Your name for all my life ♪ ♪ For all my life and still find more to love each time ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ Sweeter every time that I call on it ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus Your Word ♪ Come on, sing it out, babe. Come on, it's sweeter every time. Come on. ♪'Cause there's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪

♪ That makes me quite holyinsece ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Come on, there's just something about that name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me quite holy ♪ Come on, there's no other name. ♪ There is no other name, but Jesus. ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, You're worthy. ♪ ♪ Oh yes, You are. ♪ ♪ So worthy, Jesus. ♪ Come on, can you just in your own way, tell them how worthy He is? Come on, call Him holy. The God who has redeemed you, the God who has saved you, the God who has brought you out of darkness into light. Come on, would you just lift Him up in this moment? Lift your voices in praise. Come on, we call Him Jesus. We sing, Jesus. Come on, it's like the morning light. ♪ It's like the morning light. ♪ ♪ The one the darkness can't deny. ♪ ♪ The resurrection never lies. ♪ Come on, we call Him Jesus. ♪ Jesus, Jesus. ♪

♪ Your name can save, Your name can heal. ♪ ♪ Your name can make the storm be still. ♪ ♪ You never fail, You never will. ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Your bread of life broke in for us. ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy won. ♪ ♪ The first and last are still to come. ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus. ♪ ♪ The King who overwhelmed the grave. ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign. ♪ ♪ The name above all other names, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gives all the glory. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. Yes, Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ That gives all the glory. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gives all the glory. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name. ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gives all the glory. ♪ Come on, lift your praise, yeah. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Jesus.

– Hallelujah. Hallelujah, church. Come on, how many are grateful for Jesus in this place? Amen. Come on, can we just love on each other for just a moment? Why don't we move out from our seats, greet the people around you, welcome them, tell them you are glad to see them in the house of the Lord this morning. We're going to put a minute on the screen for you. God bless you, church. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ us the Lord together. God, thank you for today. And Lord, as we all just sit here, we honor you, and we worship you. And as we begin to prepare in our hearts to return back the tithe to you or to give above and beyond the tithe, the kingdom builders, Lord, we do it unto you. And God, we ask you to come upon this moment, upon these tithes and these offerings and bless it. Lord, help us be a church that continues to reach more and more people here and around the world. Pray a blessing over each person as they give today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. God bless you as you give and welcome to faith. Praise the Lord, church. I'm going to invite you to stand with us as we continue in worship today, worshiping our King, our Lord, our Savior. If he's your Lord and your Savior, can you give him praise right here? We're going to keep doing that all day, all the days of our lives. As a matter of fact, we'll be praising and magnifying the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the perfect lamb who was slain for our sins. He's our Jesus. He gave his life and we celebrate him today as our risen Savior. So as we worship, let's remember his sacrifice and his victory. We sing this together. We sing, God wrapped in flesh and blood. Heavenly robes laid down. Humble to come and dwell among us. Living a sinless life. You opened blinded eyes. Became

the sacrifice to save us. Crucified. Laid in a borrowed tomb. Risen with all authority. We sing praise to the King of Kings. Jesus, the King of Kings. Praise to the one who set me free. My Savior. Glory and power be to Jesus, the King of Kings. Praise to the one who set me free forever. We sing, God, upon heaven's throne. You crushed the rain of sin. You stripped the grave of all its power. Giver of life and hope. You are redemption's door. You are the way. There is no other. Praise to the King of Kings. Jesus, the King of Kings. Praise to the one who set me free. He's my Savior. Glory and power be to Jesus, the King of Kings. Praise to the one who set me free forever. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. We're going to go ahead into a time of communion right now. We practice open communion, which means you don't have to be a member to partake. So when you walked in, if you didn't receive a cup, if you wouldn't mind just raising your hand and one of our ushers will serve you gladly. Just keeps your hands up as they're looking around to make sure that we get you a cup. The Bible commands us to partake in communion, to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In Isaiah chapter 53, it says this, that he was wounded for our transgressions. He was pierced for our iniquities. And we have to understand that Jesus was our substitute. We deserve to die, but he took our place. So that means our, our sin, our transgressions, our iniquities nailed Jesus to the cross. The second part of that verse reads this, the punishment that brought us. Peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. So you see, the justice that we deserved didn't just disappear, church.

It was redirected to him. So now you understand the peace we have and the healing we have isn't earned. It was purchased. So we gladly remember, we gladly partake in communion. Why? Because this is good news for us. Guys, we don't get what we deserve. That means our worst sin, our darkest moment, our deepest issue does not get the final word. Our Jesus gets the final word. The cross gets the final word. So let's remember that as we partake. His death means our life. Dear Jesus, we come before you right now, Lord God, and we thank you. We thank you for this bread. We thank you for your body, Lord God, that took our place on the cross, Jesus. Because you were the sacrifice, Lord God, we now have life, and by your stripes, my God, we are healed. We love you, Jesus. In your name we pray, amen. Let's go ahead and open up the first part and partake of the bread. Let's pray for the cup. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blood. We know what your word says, Lord God, what the shedding of blood,

there's no remission of sins, Lord God. Because your blood spilled, my God, we are now forgiven. And because of your blood, your beautiful blood, my God, we have life, we have hope, and we are saved, Jesus. We thank you for your forgiveness. We thank you for your cross. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's go ahead and partake of the cup. Let's go ahead and continue worshiping now. Come on, if you're thankful for a mercy that you could have never deserved, but that was poured out to you through the blood of Jesus, can you lift your hands right here as we worship our King? Oh, I'm so thankful that 2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians tells us that as we take communion, we continue to declare his death until he returns. Is anybody in the house thankful today for Jesus that not only died, but that rose with all power in his hands? I don't know about you, but today I celebrate a living Savior, a Savior who deserves all glory and honor, who is magnified, who is lifted high, who is glorified at the right hand of the Father. If that's your Jesus, won't you lift your hands to heaven as we bless him with all of our hearts, minds, and souls? We sing this, we sing. ♪ Forever he is glorified ♪ ♪ Forever he is lifted high ♪ ♪ Forever he is risen, he is alive ♪

Our Savior Jesus. ♪ He is alive ♪ ♪ Forever he is glorified ♪ ♪ Forever he is lifted high ♪ ♪ Forever he is risen, he is alive ♪ And that's why we praise him forever. Praise to the King. ♪ Praise to the King of kings, Jesus the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise to the one who set me free, oh my Savior ♪ ♪ Glory and power be to Jesus the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise to the one who set me free forever ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ I wonder if anybody's been set free by Jesus? Come on, will you give Jesus praise because he set you free. We give you praise, Jesus. We thank you, God, for your presence. We bless you, God. You are good. You are here. And I pray, God, that we would open our hearts to all that you have for us. Will you do that, church, at every location right now? Would you open your heart to everything God has for you? What if God wants to do more in your life than you thought when you came into the building? Come on, will you open your heart to all God has for you? Father, in Jesus' name, we bless you, we praise you, we thank you for your freedom that is found in the name of Jesus.

And God, we thank you, God. We thank you for your presence. God bless you, we love you, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Go ahead, you can give him praise one more time. God bless you today. You can be seated across every single location. So glad that you are here. And of course, I mentioned the locations just now. Let me mention them by name. This service, joining us, this service is our Red Bug Lake Campus, our Michigan Street Campus joining this service, our Narcoossee Road Campus joining this service, today's service is also streamed at the Central Florida Reception Center, our Correctional Facility Campus. So now come on across all those locations, let's do what we do. We usually celebrate that, what God's doing everywhere. And man, I am so excited about what God is doing at every single one of those locations, those gatherings. And so if you're watching on the screen somewhere else and you're not at one of those, maybe you're watching from some other place in the country or somewhere else in the world, we're so glad that you are and I would just encourage you to lean in to what God is saying. I have a word from God today and so you can be a part of all of it, I mean, have altar time wherever you are. If you're in the city here and you're watching on the screen somewhere, I hope God speaks to you as well.

And also if you're in the city watching on the screen, come and do it in person at one of the locations next week because it's even better in person. And everybody at every location said amen. It just is, man, it's, something happens when we come together. And so anyway, we're so glad you're here. If you have a copy of God's word, you can go to Mark chapter five. While you're turning there, let me mention that this Thursday night is our annual business meeting and this is big time stuff here. And so we do have some changes happening to our bylaws, our constitution and bylaws. And so with that, within our bylaws, I have to announce that two Sundays prior, so I did last Sunday, I'm doing it today, that there are going to be an amendment before you to change some of our bylaws and constitution. I can say this, that the nature of it is not really with any governance or practices. It's more language and spelling and wording and things like that because we sent our bylaws to attorney review and that's what came back. So this is not anything major changes when it comes to our disciplines or our doctrine or our behaviors, it's more wording. But I wanted to make that announcement and that's this Thursday night here at this central campus, the Crayford campus, that's the business meeting.

And so let me mention one other thing because I wanna bring report of it. But the first of the year, we were talking about giving and we were talking about tithing and generosity and those things. And I don't know if you remember, but we set February 1st as an all tithe Sunday. Does anybody remember that? We set February 1st as an all tithe Sunday. We said, what would it look like if everybody in the church kind of took 10% of what came in that week and everybody tithed on February 1st? And so we had set that in place and February 1st was coming up, it was that week. And I started looking at the weather report for that weekend, for that Sunday. That was the Sunday that was like the coldest year or coldest day in like 100 years, February 1st. That's when I knew Ephesians chapter two, it's true that Satan is the prince of the power of the air, all right? Because we declared an all tithe Sunday and then Satan turned the air cold and then that cold air scared some of you. It scared thousands of you actually. We were down attendance that day by about a third of our church from the week before. Yeah, and so that was the day we were doing the all tithe and then we had most of you not there.

And so that was interesting and so, but I still wanna report kind of what happened because it's still God did a cool thing. And so that weekend's offering, I wanna announce, it was 45% above budget, okay? So 45% above what our normal budget for an offering would be on that week. And that's with a bunch of you not here that day. And so I wanted to just announce that and say, what do you do when things are above budget like that? Well, we got some big dreams and we got some big plans and big vision around here. Somebody say amen, like you know, we're talking about the things that God's calling us to do and we've got buildings to build and people to reach and in all kinds of ways. And so anytime there's a margin, it goes towards that. And we're constantly trying to work our budgets and our spending in ways that we have more margin for growth and more margin to reach more people. And so I wanna say thank you to everybody who stepped out. Maybe that was your first time tithing was that February 1st weekend. And I wanna say thank you and I've been praying for you that all the promises of God's word would come into full effect in your life. And if you weren't a part of that or maybe you missed that day for a variety of reasons and you didn't get a chance to be a part of it, you could still, like this is the last Sunday in February.

So it'd be a kind of a. A cool time, it'll mark our month and see what our month looked like. And so, you can still do that. Even now, our digital giving is open and you can, if you've never tithed before, you can still make today the first time that you do that. But I'm not preaching about that. I just wanted to give that update because we had announced that we would tell you what would happen, what happened on that February 1st All Tithe Sunday. Okay, Mark chapter five. Mark chapter five, I'm gonna read verses one through 20. We start a series today, and God willing, over the next couple of weeks, on the miracles of Jesus. Next week, there's different categories of miracles that Jesus performed while he was on earth. Next week, we're gonna talk about the miracle of healing and that Jesus still heals. One of the weeks, we'll talk about some of Jesus' miracles of provision. You don't wanna miss that day when we're saying Jesus is gonna do a miracle in your life of provision in your life. But today, we're gonna cover a different category of miracles, and so Mark chapter five, verses one through 20. A little bit of scripture here. Follow with me, read this with me. They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.

And when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains and broke the irons off of his feet. It's like the Hulk or something going on here. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Look at the severity of the demonic attack on this man's life. And when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him, and he shouted at the top of his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? In God's name, don't torture me, for Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you impure spirit. Then Jesus asked him, what's your name? My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. In other words, many, many demons involved here. A legion in the Roman army would be about 6,000 troops. So we're talking about potentially thousands of demons involved in this. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of this area, the demons are begging. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside, and the demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs,

allow us to go into them. So he gave them permission and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. And the herd, about 2,000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and they were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside and people went out to see what had happened. And when they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by this legion of demons and now he's sitting there dressed and in his right mind and they were afraid. Doesn't even make sense. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. Preach today a message that's simply entitled Jesus Still Delivers. Jesus Still Delivers. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you that you still move, that you still bring freedom, and I just pray, God, we would be able today to take an honest look at our hearts and our lives, that we take an honest look at our circumstances, and God, I just pray that your power, Lord, I thank you, God, that there'll just be a fresh, prophetic, powerful anointing that breaks the yoke upon this message

and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. And everybody said amen, amen. A couple weeks ago, I had something happen in my life that had never happened before. And I'm, you know, a half century, you know, I've been around for over a half century, so for something to never have happened before and to happen a couple weeks ago is pretty crazy. And so I was in on a missions trip in Honduras with one of our Kingdom Builder partners, and you'll be hearing more about that in the coming weeks and months, but I was on this trip and we were out during the day doing a lot of ministry and we were doing a feeding program and we were seeing the different ministries that are going on, and the day had gone long. We were supposed to go back to the hotel, kind of shower, and then go to dinner, but we had gone long, and so then it was just, well, we had to go straight to dinner and then get back to the hotel, so it was late. 8 in the evening now or later than it was supposed to be. We're tired and ready to take a shower and go to bed. And so some of us get in the elevator at the hotel. There's one of these where you put your key up there and then you press the buttons. So a couple floors had been pressed and then maybe five or six of us were in there and then a couple more came and said hold the door and it was still with our group.

So it ended up being eight of us in this elevator. And then the doors closed and then the elevator kind of did this like and just kind of resettled. And all the lights that were lit up for the floors went off. And we were like okay. And so we started pushing the buttons again except now the buttons wouldn't light up. The elevator wasn't working right now. So we're putting our key up there, we're pushing the buttons. Then we pushed the, well let's push the door open button. Push the door open button, no door open. And so then we kind of started thinking about, man, we're stuck in this elevator. And so we took a picture early on. This is a picture of us in the elevator. This is the beginning of it, okay. This is about one minute in, all right. So you go, man, you guys look so calm and happy and yeah, it's one minute in, all right. And if you'd have asked me ever before like would you freak out if you ever got stuck in an elevator, I would probably have said yes, I would freak out and it had never happened before. So this is about a minute in and so then you see the guy that's below me, his name is Jamie. He's a pastor in Michigan. And he was the one that was right near the panel. And so he started, when we realized it was stuck

and the doors wouldn't, no, we were trying to pry the doors open, we couldn't get the doors open, he started pressing the alarm button. Well then like five or six of the guys in the elevator started going, don't, don't press that, don't press that. And then I spoke up and I said, no, this, this is why they put the alarm button in the elevator. Like if there's ever a time to press the alarm, it's now. Press it, continue to press it, hold it down like, because it was loud. And I think, I think those guys all kind of slipped back to like they were in high school and they were afraid they were gonna get in trouble for pressing the alarm, but I'm like, no, this is, we need an alarm here. This is the moment for an alarm. And then it also had a thing where you could call and so they, they called and then luckily these stuff, this stuff all worked in this, in this elevator. So then someone answered the call and they answered in Spanish. And so Jamie was under, he was up there by the panel. He was our spokesperson and he said, habla ingles por favor. Because you can see by the complexion there, we didn't have, we didn't have any help there in Honduras. And, and so, so then the guy speaks Spanish again. And so then Jamie again goes, habla ingles por favor. And so then, then they, I don't know if it was a different person, but then they started speaking English to him and they said, hey, what's the problem?

I said, they said, we're stuck in the elevator. The doors won't open and we can't get, the floors won't light up. And he said, okay, come to the front desk and they'll redo your keys. And then it should work. We said, yeah, that's the thing. We can't go, we can't get out. We'd love to go to the front desk right now. I would love the front desk. And so then we kind of sit there and wait. And we were on the elevator for probably 15 to 20 minutes. Now, if it had been longer than that, I probably would have started freaking out. Y'all would have had to be interceding for me. If it had been longer, the other thing that kind of made me comfortable, well, less uncomfortable about it was I knew that we were right there on the first floor. I'm like, worst case scenario, somebody's gonna come along and rescue us. They're gonna get a crowbar and they're gonna pry this thing open and we're gonna be here. If we had been in between like floor two and three, I would have been freaking out at that point. So I knew that we were going to get rescued. And the reason why I share that is because when we talk about deliverance, the miracles of Jesus, the miracle of deliverance, deliverance kind of means to be delivered kind of means something different than we use that word for a lot.

Okay, so we would use delivered, delivery, deliverance. Like we would use that term sometimes like for food, like we're getting our food delivered to us. Amazon delivers something to your house every day, some of you, right? And it's being delivered to you. And so we think about that term meaning something different, but biblical deliverance is something different. Biblical deliverance and like the Greek word that gets translated in the New Testament as deliverance is a Greek word called huromai. And it's a word that means really to be rescued. So when we're talking about a miracle of deliverance, we're talking about being rescued from a situation, rescued from a circumstance. And maybe the most important thing to understand as we look at the miracle of deliverance, maybe the key distinction. in Biblical deliverance is this, it's rarely something that a person can do for themselves. This is the foundation for us to look at this incredible moment of deliverance that we see in Mark chapter five. It's rarely something we can do for ourselves. That's what makes it deliverance. That's what makes it, we need a deliverer. We need a rescuer. Like in that, we were in that elevator and we were trying to pry that door open in and of ourself and we couldn't do it.

We could not save ourselves. So we needed someone to deliver us out of that elevator. We needed somebody to rescue us and the title of my message, let me say it again, is that Jesus still delivers. Jesus still rescues. Jesus still sets free. And now when we read a story like we just read in Mark chapter five and we go, pastor, that is severe. That is a severe case of satanic and demonic influence. And I would agree with you that this is a severe case. And we go, I don't have anything quite that severe. And so yes, Satan sometimes will bring influence. He will bring attack that is severe. But what we also have to understand is that Satan also brings attack that is subtle as well. And sometimes because attack is subtle, we go, well, I don't have to be delivered from that. Well, you do. Okay, we cannot save ourselves from this kind of spiritual attack, whether it's severe or whether it's subtle. So the same principles will be true for us. Do we need to be, how do we know if I need to be delivered? Well, let me give you five things. We're gonna try to cover these. I would need to be delivered when I'm unclean. I know that. I can't clean my own heart, my own spirit.

I need to be delivered when I'm uncontrolled. I got an out of control life. I need to be delivered when I'm deceived. Why? Because I'm not seeing things right. I'm not understanding things. I need to be delivered when I'm destructive, destructive to my own life, destructive to other people. I need to be delivered, lastly, when I'm fearful. And we'll see all of these come up in this story that we just read in Mark chapter five. Look at verse two. When Jesus got out of the boat, this man with the impure spirit, and this story's in other gospels, in other gospels, one of the other gospels mentioned this as two men with demons come out. And so Mark chooses to focus on one, perhaps the worst one in this situation. But he says a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him, a man with an impure spirit. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains. So if we need deliverance when we have an unclean condition, it's not something we can do on our own. And this man lived, if you notice this, he lived in the tombs. What does that represent? Well, that represents death, of course,

and this is where he lived, he made his home. This is where he was comfortable, living amongst the tombs. It represents, tombs also represented uncleanliness, especially ceremonial ritual uncleanliness. And so if someone were to go to a tomb or be around that kind of area, they would have to go through all these ceremonial cleansings in order to be looked at as clean again. I was unclean because I was there. I was unclean because I visited that area. This is how the Jewish law went, and now this guy not only is visiting there, he's made his home there. He is completely, he's most comfortable around the death and the unclean. Now let me ask you this. How do you feel about your home? Where are you most comfortable? Now physically, I hope that it is your home. That's the way it's supposed to work. Your home is supposed to be a sanctuary. You should love coming home, and if that's not the case, that's a whole separate deliverance, that's a whole separate sermon. But your home should be the place where you feel comfortable when you walk into your door, oh man, I'm glad to be home. You get into your bed, maybe you've been traveling a little bit, and it's like, oh man, I'm glad to be in my bed. And that's the way it's supposed to work.

I mean, when Jamie and I first got married, we had our first home. It was a little apartment, and we were in school still, we were in college, but it was a little apartment, but it was our home, and I'd walk in there, and I was just, I was so glad and so comfortable in my home. We had bought this, some furniture, and we had this chaise lounge. It was popular back then, and it was this big chair, and it went out where your legs kind of stayed straight out, and big old armrests. I was like a king on his throne in his castle. I loved coming home and sitting in my chair in my home with my remote. Come on, somebody say amen. Jamie submitted that to me as mine. My remote, first time in my life that I just got to flip that thing. wherever I wanted, my thermostat, I was comfortable in my home, which is how it's supposed to work. And yet this man's comfortable amongst the unclean. And I fear that the church needs to be delivered again from the tendency of feeling comfortable amongst the unclean. Our culture has gotten so unclean, and it's so pervasive, and you see it, and you feel it, and you experience it, and you hear it everywhere. And so we, as the people of God,

have gotten too comfortable amongst unclean content. We've gotten too comfortable amongst unclean conversations. We feel perfectly at home in unclean communities and with unclean characters in our life. We've gotten comfortable with unclean cravings in our lusts, in our spirits, and it's a dangerous place. And we go, well, it's not so severe that everybody sees it. I know it's subtle, which maybe makes it more dangerous, because maybe if it was severe like this guy, man, everybody would know that we need deliver. No, we can put it all together and kind of come to church and smile and sing a couple songs and hear a couple cute stories. All the while, so comfortable amongst the unclean. What do we do with that? We have to go to a deliverer. We have to go to Jesus. He's the one that can, there has to be something that rescues us and pulls us out. Because look what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter six. He says, come out from them and be separate. He's quoting an Old Testament passage. He says, touch no unclean thing. And God says, I will receive you. This matters to God. Our freedom from the stronghold of an unclean world, it matters to God. God says, touch no unclean thing and then I'll receive you. Can I go back and just look at some of the questions that Paul asked right before verse 17?

Because he's asking these questions almost like we would of course know the answer. And I feel like the church today might change the answer. Look, he asked before in verse 14, he says, what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Some of us would have to, we know some Christians who we would have to go, well actually there are some things in common there. What fellowship can light have with darkness? We know some Christians that have some fellowship with light and darkness. What harmony is there between Christ and Belal? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? And if we're being honest, I mean if all of our junk was out there, we could list the behaviors of an unbeliever and the behaviors of us who call ourselves believers and we go, well actually there's a lot in common. We're watching the same stuff they're watching. We're doing the same stuff they're doing. Our romantic relationships look the same as their romantic relationships. We're going to the same places that they're going to. Apparently there is something in common. Paul's poisoning this question like, well of course there's nothing in common. But what's happened? We've gotten lulled to sleep by a unclean spirit. For years, right, like Christianity was not, was underrepresented in entertainment.

So it was like, that was the world. And then now there's some Christians that are, well there's some people that are professing Christ in the entertainment industry. And the church is like, we've been underrepresented so long, we're like, yes, he said Jesus. Yes, he sings a worship song. Yes, he talked about Jesus in his speech. So we get behind it and we celebrate that. But the problem is that those lifestyles of some of those people that are professing his name don't look anything like the Jesus that we know in the Bible. Don't look like any, like there's, like. And so we're to look, and by their fruit you'll know them, Jesus said. Some of them, they'll say this, but then by their fruit you'll know who they really are. And so this acceptance and this celebration of this, I feel like it's lulled the church into saying Jesus, but thinking, no, we can act any way. We're living together because we kind of have to. We just want to see if we're gonna be compatible for marriage. So we're just gonna do that and we come to church, but then we're sneaking sexual content on our phones when nobody's looking, we're addicted to everything like everybody else is addicted to everything. We've accepted lying as a part of living. Everybody lies, and so, but knowing what Jesus,

Jesus said, no, to come out from among them and be clean and don't touch those unclean things and then that's when I'll receive you. Pastor, everybody, everybody young adult is sleeping around. You expect young adults to not sleep together? Yes, I think you could have the power to not do that. And Jesus agrees with me, it was actually God's idea. And maybe it's some other sin of the tongue, gossip, dissension, complaining that we've gotten, it's just, it's where we live, and we're used to it. What do we do when we're in a situation like that? We have to be rescued, we have to hit an alarm button. Second, it would be this, that we need to be delivered from an out of control life, and I won't spend as much time on all of the ones that we'll go through, but verse three and four, this man lives in the tombs. The Bible says no one could bind him, not even with a chain. He'd been chained, he's torn apart. Look at the end of verse four, no one was strong enough to subdue him. So here they are, they're trying physical restraints, watch this, to restrain a spiritual problem. So we're gonna try physical things, it's like sometimes we have spiritual issues, and we try non-spiritual fixes for them. We go, I'm gonna read a book about it, I'm gonna set a New Year's resolution about it, I'm gonna just will myself. When there is a spiritual attack, you're not gonna defeat a spiritual attack

with an intellectual pursuit. You're not gonna defeat a spiritual attack with a physical pursuit. Let me take it to you this way. Back in 1 Samuel chapter 17, it's the story of David and Goliath. Most of you heard the story, wave at me if you heard the story of David and Goliath. And so this giant is there, and David goes, and he gets five smooth stones and a sling, and he kills Goliath, chops his head off with a sword. It's quite theatric, it's amazing. Maybe some of you didn't have read, you haven't read, is that the chapter before that, 1 Samuel 16, there's a different kind of battle going on. It's King Saul, and he's being tormented by evil spirits. And they call David to come fight this battle for Saul. And David does not walk in with a sling and five smooth stones. No, he comes in with his harp, and it's time to worship. And he begins to worship Jesus, and as he's worshiping Jesus, these demonic spirits have to leave Saul. And there's victory there. Now, understand, the next day, when David was going to fight the next chapter, he's going to fight Goliath, and Goliath's either going, send me a warrior. David does not go, okay, Goliath, I'm coming. And I'm getting ready to sing you a song

that you will soon not forget. Someone get my harp, I'm gonna play him a song that it's gonna mess with him. He didn't do that. What did he do? It was a physical fight, it was a war. He was a warrior, he's like, I'm gonna win this one this way. So he took rocks, and he threw rocks. But when he was with Saul, he didn't take rocks to win that one. No, this one took worship, because this was a spiritual battle, and for spiritual battles, I've got to find spiritual weaponry. And so when we have this out-of-control life, things going on, human efforts will not fix it. That's why you're still bound. That's why you're still addicted. That's why you're still out of control. When you try to reign it in with all the physical effort you can, no, this is gonna take, you can't manage an out-of-control spiritual attack on your life. You can't manage that with human terms. We gotta be delivered from that. We gotta be delivered from a deceptive delusion. This is a dangerous one here, and look at verse five. Night and day, this man is out here crying out.

He's cutting himself with stones. He's living in the tombs. He's screaming. He can't be bound, and when he sees Jesus from a distance, he runs and falls on his knees in front of him, shouts at the top of his voice, "'What do you want with me, Jesus, "'Son of the Most High God?' And look at this. This is the line that is wild. He says to Jesus, "'In God's name, don't torture me.'" Talk about the magnitude of the power of Jesus. Satan and sin's deception. This guy is living an absolutely tortured life, isolated, self-destructive, out of control, demons by the thousands, and yet when Jesus shows up, the only one who can set him free, the only one that can rescue him, what does he say? Jesus, don't you dare torture me. How evil will do this to us? Evil will have you believing that sin's destruction is pleasure. and God's freedom is painful. This is the deception of the enemy, that we start to think that if I surrender, if I go through this, if I allow Jesus to set me free,

my life is somehow gonna be worse off. I'm gonna be in more pain, I'm gonna have less this, I'm gonna have less fun, I'm gonna have less friends, I'm gonna be lonely, because some of us are in a relationship that is a stronghold that we're not to be in, and you're afraid, well, if I let that go, then I'm gonna be lonely. No, you won't be lonely, because Jesus will be there with you, and you'll have freedom, perhaps for the first time in your life. What a delusion this man was suffering from. Pain, he's living in pain, pain, cutting himself, and that's normal, and that being free from that would be abnormal. Don't torture me with this freedom, Jesus. Bondage felt safe to him, and freedom feels threatening to him. We need to be delivered. When deception kicks in like that, we need to be delivered from a destructive outcome. And so this story gets interesting here, if you hadn't read it before, a large herd of pigs, all these 2,000 pigs come into the story, they're over on the nearby hillside, and the demons say, can we go in there? And so he, Jesus, gives the demons permission, and these impure spirits came out and went into the pigs,

and then the herd, about 2,000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Controversial here about Jesus being mean to these poor pigs. Animal rights activists are not about this verse. They're not gonna be in this chapter. Like, no, Jesus was wrong. These poor pigs suffered. He should have sent them into a tree. Well, no, not a tree either. We'd have had a hard time figuring out where Jesus could have done it. So we gotta go, why did Jesus send these thousands of demons into a pig, into pigs? Because they belonged to somebody, and somebody was out some income when this happened. We go, man, was that fair? So why did Jesus do this? There must be a reason. For one, I think he was doing it because he was giving practical proof to all the spectators that a miracle, the miracle of deliverance had happened. Because maybe if those guys kinda shape up for a second, maybe they go, oh, I'll bet those demons are still in there. I'll bet he's still struggling with that. Y'all, we've done that in the church, right? Somebody comes to the altar in there, and I'm free, and like, oh, we'll see.

But we can get that religious spirit real quick. So maybe Jesus thought they would have done that with this demon-possessed man if he straightened up and said, oh, we'll see. Well, you couldn't say we'll see because you did see, all right? You saw these demons going to these pigs, and these pigs didn't like it, and they jumped into this lake and drowned. I think another reason why he was doing it because this destruction of the pigs gives these men that were demon-possessed, this man that was demon-possessed, gives him the assurance that these demons got cast out, but what if they come back? Well, guess what? They ain't coming back. They're gone. I think maybe the biggest reason why Jesus sent these demons into these pigs is it was a clear visual illustration. It was a sermon illustration of what you have to look forward to if you leave a spiritual attack on your life unrescued. You watch that unfold, and you go, I don't want that outcome. It's like, if we could bring the outcome of sin and spiritual temptation and spiritual attack, if we could bring the outcome on the first time we're tempted,

it would change our behavior. In other words, if you're gonna sneak some money out of your work, nobody will notice I'm delivering this money bag, but I'm just gonna pull this out and put it here, and no one will notice, and maybe no one will notice, but if we could sit here and go, well, let's fast forward. What does this look like? Let's keep going with this. Yeah, you end up in prison for 10 years on embezzlement. Is this what you, oh, no, I'm out. I'm not gonna do that at all. If we could fast forward, like the flirting with somebody at your job, and go, hey, can I show you where this ends up? Can I show you the image of your family being destroyed and torn apart because of this extramarital affair? Can I show you that now in this moment of flirting? And you might go, well, you know what? I'm done. I'm not gonna flirt anymore. If we could see the outcome of the bondage when we're stepping into the bondage, man, we might not step in at all. And so here you got these people seeing the outcome of what happens when spiritual attack goes unchecked and unrescued in our life. It does not lead to good things. Finally, we need to be delivered from faithless fear.

In this next couple of verses, I think is maybe one of the saddest verses in the Bible. So verse 15, they come to Jesus and they see this man, he's in his right mind, he's dressed, he's transformed. And the Bible says that they were afraid. It doesn't even make sense. Be afraid of the guy who's up there naked in the tombs, cutting himself and screaming, dad, be afraid. Horror movies are made of that. And now he's sitting in his right mind, dressed, transformed and healed. And you're gonna be afraid of that? Why? Let's get into it. Verse 17, the people then begin to beg and plead with Jesus to leave their region. Why are they afraid of someone who has been, who has encountered Jesus and has been set free? Why are they begging the one who, the only one who can bring that level of freedom, why are they begging him to leave their region? This is why I think it is. I think they were afraid of the discomfort of exposure. Satan still uses this. Satan still whispers this in people's ear every single service we have, every gathering we have. We might get to an end and say, somebody needs to give their life to Christ. And Satan begins to whisper, the fear of exposure. It's dangerous.

There's discomfort here. If you let people know what's going on in your life, you probably should just keep it down, keep it hidden. It will be uncomfortable for you, the discomfort of exposure. If you expose these things, there's things you're dealing with and you know that you're dealing with them, but you keep them, you just keep them suppressed so you don't have to think about it. And if you start to think about it, it'll be worse. The discomfort of exposure is now asking them, asking Jesus to leave their region. Here we are at Faith Church going, we exist to help people encounter Jesus. And some of us sit in the church service of the church that is helping people encounter Jesus and we're actually scared to truly encounter him. We'll watch other people encounter him, but I'm afraid of actually encountering myself. And what do we do when we're afraid of that? Listen, you have to pray to Jesus, say, Jesus, deliver me of that fear because I know that life with you is better. Psalms 34, verse four, and then I'm done. The psalmist says, I sought the Lord and he answered me. And he delivered me from all my fears. We have some time left, and I would ask you to be so reverent because of what God needs to do in our lives.

And so at every single location, we're gonna sing the song that we sang a moment ago about the power and the presence that's held within the name of Jesus. And as we sing, some of you need to be delivered today and Jesus still delivers. No, it's not severe, maybe like this story we read. It's subtle, but deliverance still is needed. And I know you came thinking, I'm not gonna press the alarm button at church today, but this is what the alarm button is made for is moments like this. When Jesus comes in and says, I can set you free from a spirit of an unclean spirit. I can set you free from an out of control life. I can set you free from deception and being deceived. I can set you free from destruction. I can set you free from fear. We've got to allow him to do that in our life. And so if you would quietly, reverently, would you stand and don't move other than that. And I want us to sing this together that it just speaks of the healing that's in the name of Jesus, the freedom that's in the name of Jesus, the salvation. If you need it as we do this, where you can be free right there where you are. If you wanna, these altars are gonna be open. Our prayer team is gonna be here and some of you are gonna wanna come to this front

as we sing it and just spend some time with God, allowing him to break the chains of bondage from the enemy off that there is spiritual attack going on. You're not gonna win this spiritual attack any other way, but by going to the one who has the spiritual authority. And so these altars are open as we sing it, but all of us, come on, let's respond to this word with this declaration that there is healing and freedom in the name. Come on, sing this with us. There's healing in your name, Lord. Come on, church, sing it out. Healing in your name, you want to move to this front and receive prayer today. Come on, there's freedom today. And I know the enemy will whisper and bring the discomfort of exposure. Come on, step through that fear because there's salvation. You need salvation today. Come on, church. Come on, let's sing this to heaven. Salvation in your name. And it makes me cry, holy. Come on, we lift up a hand high to heaven. Sing there's freedom in his name. In Jesus name, I pray for freedom in every single location. I pray for freedom, freedom from the lies of the enemy, freedom from addiction, freedom from darkness, freedom from attack. Lord, save us, rescue us. Jesus, you still deliver. Bring deliverance, we pray. Thank you, God.

Thank you, God. Lord Jesus, come on, call his name. Jesus, be the name, Jesus, be the name. Altars are still open in every location. If that's you, come on, be the name, be the name, Jesus, be the name, be the name, Jesus. I'm going to pray over every person and the altars will be open at the conclusion of this prayer. You need to still come. And while I'm praying, Father, thank you for your freedom. And I thank you, God, that lives are being transformed. Lord, the subtle attack of the enemy is being defeated by the only weapon that can do it. And that's calling upon the name of the Lord. And I thank you, Jesus, for your freedom. And we do come against every attack of the enemy in every form or fashion. Lord, every lie that we've been believing, every fear that we've been living under. Lord, every unclean spirit that has convoluted our thinking and our minds. We thank you, God, for freedom. And we walk in that freedom in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. And everybody said amen. Amen. Church, we love you. I pray you'll have a great week. The altars are open today. Prayer service Wednesday night. Come out, see us there. God bless you. We love you.