Living Hope Church Green River
7/28/24 Don't Reject Jesus!
I think you guys may be seated. - Then they sailed to the country of the Gatorines, which is opposite Galilee. And when he stepped out on the land, there met him, a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried. He cried out, fell down before him and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with you?" Jesus, son of the Most High God, "I beg you, do not torment me." For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for it had often seized him, but he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him and they begged him that he would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now, a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain, so they begged him that he would permit them to enter them and he permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine and the herd ran violently, violently down the steep place into the lake and ground. When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to the sea, what, gimme a second. Then they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. They also who, they also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of gatherings asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear and he got into the boat and returned. Now, the man from whom the demons had departed begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your own house and tell what great things "God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. - All right, thank you Dakota. It is time if you have children third-grader under, they can go downstairs and I just looked around and I realized I didn't bring my iPad up here. So we're winging it today. Now I'm just kidding. I got some notes. We'll be good. Dakota, thank you so much for reading. I do have to give you a hard time for wearing a fanny pack across your chest, like what? I don't know, it looks weird. It's a fanny pack. We know. All right, well, some of these students had to put up with me a lot this week and so, well Sarah, let's clarify. I don't think she put up with me. I think she's trying to fix me. But it was much appreciated. This last week at Summit Camp was, it was an excellent experience. And truly from the very beginning, over 200 students and sponsors and just the energy as a staff, Summit staff were there for two weeks. We have one group the first week and then a new group comes in the second week. And just the energy that the students came in with the second week, we could tell right away that something exciting was gonna happen. And it's true. I mean, within the first night, there was decisions that were made for students to start following Jesus and that proceeded throughout the whole week. It was a great week. God was moving and speaking to individuals throughout the whole week. And it was really humbling and exciting to watch. And so, if you see some of the students around like, well, Ryan's the only one in here now 'cause I scared away Dakota, but yeah, if you see any of the students, you should ask them what camp was like and see if they just tell you about the food or maybe they can tell you something more about what God was doing in their life. So, it'd be cool. All right, some quick announcements. Oh, I got my spiel, I'm supposed to say. For those of you who don't know my name's Pastor Ruben, thank you so much for, oh, she came back. I didn't scare off that bad. (indistinct) Thank you so much for being here. If you haven't figured it out, we're kind of informal and we like to have a lot of fun. But we are really glad you're here. The Living Hope Church exists to experience and share a life of hope that is found only in following Jesus. And so, everything that we do really is meant to encourage and push each other in this journey as we follow Jesus. And so, if you're here, you're new here, there's a card in front of you. If you didn't mind filling that out and dropping it in the box in the back. The box in the back is really for those that are part of our church to support the kingdom work that God is doing financially. But if you wouldn't mind filling out that card and dropping it in the back, it gives me a way to be able to reach out to you and connect with you and see how we can better serve you. So, again, thanks for being here. We do have some announcements this last month has been super busy and I wanna say things will calm down, but they're not because next week is vacation Bible school. So, we got a lot of work to do this week and getting ready for that. So, August 4th, that's next Sunday after the service. We'll do a quick volunteer training, make sure everyone knows what they're doing, make sure everyone has an idea of what's expected of them and how to interact with kids hopefully and share the gospel with them. And then we'll spend some time decorating the church, the different areas. We do have, it looks like they got dropped off this last week. We have a whole bunch of decorations that other churches have made and then used and then now they're here for us to use. And so, we're going to try to transform the place a little bit. I might have some of it up this week, since it's here already. Well, there will be plenty of work to do. So, that's next Sunday. And then, fifth through the eighth, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we will be having Vacation Bible School in the mornings. And so, I do be praying for that, be praying for all the kids that come, be praying for all the staff that are helping and then maybe even be praying about if you should be helping or not. And so, there's always plenty of work to do. So, if you're interested in helping out with Vacation Bible School, my wife's phone number's on the announcements. Please give her a call or a text and let her know that you would love to come help out. And I know a lot of you already are helping out, so thank you so much for that. And then, it'll be great. So, August, fifth through the eight. Also, if you know anyone in the community that I think it's K through fifth grade, is that right? Yeah. So, if you know any K through fifth graders that should be a part of it, make sure they know that it's happening. There's a registration code on the flyer that we have in the, or they can just show up, we can register them too. But August, fifth through the Vacation Bible School. Then, the other thing I want to mention, there's a sign up sheet on the back. It's been kind of an interesting summer because of everyone traveling. And so, we haven't really been able to do it yet, but starting tomorrow, we're going to have snow cones and popcorn at the local soccer games. And so, if you're interested in helping out with that, please sign up on that back sheet. There's a clipboard there by the camera. And that'll be good. It's a great way for us to just show our community that we care for them, and we're supportive of the work that's for all those that are a part of our community. So, all right, so we're in the Book of Luke. The Book of Luke has been extremely fascinating for me because Luke, he wasn't, some of the gospels, Matthew and John were written by people who walked with Jesus, right? Jesus specifically called 12 people to follow him throughout his three and a half years of earthly ministry. And so, there's these 12 men that follow Jesus, and they went with him pretty much everywhere he went. And so, these were eyewitnesses. They saw, and then they wrote down what they saw and what they experienced. Mark wasn't one of the disciples, but just from accounts that are given within the Book, we are pretty confident that Mark literally wrote down what Peter was telling him. And so, Mark is almost still an eyewitness. It's the Peter's story, Peter's vision of Jesus's life. But Luke, Luke is an interesting character because Luke was a doctor. And he wasn't necessarily one of the 12, but what he did when he wrote his gospel is he went and interviewed everyone, right? Like, we have like little snippets. Like, we know what Mary was thinking. Well, how do we know what Mary was thinking? Well, I'm pretty sure it's because Luke talked to Mary and he was like, well, what did you think about that? And so, he gets to write that down. And so, Luke, he tries to set out like this. Like, he tries to put things in order. He tries to give this really good account. For Peter, it was like, well, this happened, and then this happened. Like, it's almost like his memory. This thing sparks this memory, and that sparks this memory, right? And he's just like, he's going and going. But for Luke, it's like this, like he's almost like a reporter. He's almost like telling the story of Jesus Christ. And what we've seen where we're at today is I believe Luke chapter eight is almost this, like this trans, like a transition chapter. Because we have like Jesus's origins. We have his family. We have his upbringing. We have, we have the beginning of his ministry. He starts calling disciples that we have his first sermon. We get to see some of the great and miraculous things that he does. And then chapter eight starts off with him saying, hey, by the way, people are going to reject and people are going to fall away, and we need to be prepared for that, right? And then, and then last week, we talked about the coming storm. And Jesus is, he gets on this boat after preaching this big sermon, and they're going across, and there's this big storm, and he's sleeping. And like the reality, the picture, I believe that Luke is trying to get us to understand is there's a coming storm. There's a brewing storm that Jesus is about to walk straight into. And here today, we get to see like this crazy story of really, like there's one earlier story where Jesus, where he grew up, they kind of rejected him, right? But here, you know, here we get to see a whole village like just straight up reject Jesus and kick him out, right? Jesus goes to the Gatorines, and you know, the theologians, okay. I'm going to apologize right now. I feel like I've searched for the right word, like 17 times this morning for different things. So I don't know if it's just the fact that I only got seven hours of sleep last night instead of the three or four I was getting. I don't know what's up, but like, I might stumble over my words, and my voice is doing great, praise the Lord. I don't, I scream my guts out. I tried not to save my voice, but here I am. And so, you know, but God is gracious, and so just bear with me a little bit. But as we think about this, the Gatorines, the theologians, you know, they really debate about where this is. There's a couple different ideas, but ultimately, like this is almost like, like it's a Gentile place. It's not, it's not like Jesus' main ministry is like Capernaum and then Jerusalem and like Galilee, right? Like a very Jewish setting, like most of Jesus' time is spent with Jewish, a Jewish audience. But this is, this is on the other side of the sea. This is maybe more Gentile of an area. But here we see Jesus goes into this place, this random area, and he's met by this demoniac, this man that's possessed by demons, right? And Jesus does what Jesus does, right? But I mean, it's kind of cool. Like, I can't imagine what it's like, I've tried to picture this. So, I mean, if you think about this demon-possessed guy, the picture they give of like a superhuman, like how many of you like have heard the stories, like a person lifting a car because of adrenaline or something like that? I mean, like this guy has that inhuman strength. And I mean, like, you know, they didn't really know how, I mean, how do, you know, let's be honest, we don't really know how to take care of people who are out of their mind, right? We still put straight jackets, or we do this, or we just drug them up, or we do all the different kinds of things, like we're just trying to help people who apparently don't help themselves, right? And actually cause harm to other people. And so this community has gotten this guy that's possessed by demons, and you know, they've tried to protect him, they've tried to make sure he doesn't hurt other people, but he literally just breaks out of his own chains, and like, he runs around and beaten himself and ripping his clothes off, and like it's crazy, like this is a crazy man. And he's known as a crazy man, he's not healthy, he's not good to be around, you know, we stay away from him, and we can't even control him. He's out of control. And this out of control man comes to Jesus as Jesus lands on the shore, and he has this crazy, here's what the demon says, right? He says, what do I have to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God? It's a very interesting thing, early in Jesus' ministry, the only people who seem to actually recognize who Jesus is are demons. Like the humans, even Jesus' disciples, like they're following a teacher, you know, they're following a teacher who can do some really spectacular stuff, but they don't understand what that means. But the ones that do see Jesus and understand who he is, and actually even give credit to who he is, are the spiritual beings. And that's, you know, like in the book of John, Jesus says this, he says that God is the spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. You see, there's a danger when we think only in the physical realm, and we don't understand the spiritual. And I'm gonna talk about stuff today that I just want you, I want you to know, I'm gonna be super blunt, I don't know much about the spiritual realm. There are people out there who want to tell you that they know about demons and witches and magic and all this stuff, and, you know, the truth is, it's a lot of make-believe, we don't know. And I think we should be really careful when we start playing around with things that we don't know about. But we do get some glimpses, and we do get some glimpses that God shows us into a spiritual war that we are a part of. And literally, the Bible tells us that we are a part of a spiritual war, and we need to be prepared, we are not fighting against, listen, we're not fighting over who's gonna be president next year. That's really not our concern. What we're fighting over is the spiritual wickedness in high places. What we're fighting over is are we seeking after our creator and caring for his creationist, he's called us to. This is the battle we're faced with, but I'll argue this, and I'll just give you the whole sermon right off the bat. In Ephesians, where he tells us to be ready, be prepared to stand firm in the spiritual war that we're facing, everything that we need to face this spiritual war is Jesus Christ. We follow Jesus Christ. I'm not here to explain to you the ins and outs of the demonic world. I'm here to point you to Jesus Christ, because he has the power and the authority over the demonic world. And I can stand strong, I can stand firm, I can be confident and bold stepping into any situation, no matter the demonic oppression, no matter the secular ideas that are cast around, I can stand confident and bold in it, because the one who created everything and has all power and is all knowing, and who's in complete control is the one I serve. And so we as Christians, listen, we live in a day and age where Paul also lived in this day and age where he was ready for the end of the world, right? He's ready for Jesus to come back. Like Jesus, when he left, he told us disciples, be ready, be searching for my return, right? And so like we're ready, we're excited for it. We've read the book of Revelation, and we know some crazy stuff is coming. We don't have a clue what it is, I'll be honest, because I don't know what a locus firing fire out of its butt looks like, but you know, whatever, the revelation is weird, I don't understand all of it. But here's what the book of Revelation was to teach us, that Jesus Christ is king. It's not the revelation of the end of the world, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And our hope, our faith, our confidence should not be in us, it should not be in our understanding, it should not be in our ideas of how to deal with the demonic world, our hope, our confidence is in Jesus Christ alone. So let's just talk about, if you got a piece of paper, I went super simple on my outline today. So the first word that we're gonna look at is opposition. There is opposition. There is God's design, there is God, the Creator, who made everything, he made you, he made me, he made a perfect way for us to live. But we've rejected that as humans, we reject God's way and we seek our own way. And not only do we as humans oppose God's way, but there is also a spiritual opponent. There are demons, there are spiritual forces that are seeking to subvert and go against God in his design. So what I want us to understand is that the opposition is real. We don't get to, like, man, I'm not, I need my iPad, I guess. I might ramble a little bit, no, no, no, we're good. I believe we have come from an age of science, an age of knowledge. And we have had this whole period where we thought we could explain everything away, where we could just figure out what Adam was doing, what thing, and then we could explain and fix any problem in our life. If we just had enough science, we could fix it. We could understand it. Man, I'll tell you what, there's a generation that watched science have no idea how to deal with COVID. There's a generation that is enamored with a mystical. There's a generation that understands that we are spiritual beings. And as much as science teaches us about the physical world, there's more to life than that. And our response as Christians, as those who follow Jesus Christ, is not the mystical and the unknown. It's what God has revealed. And what God has revealed is that he's in control. I mean, even in his passage, right, this demon, he says, what do I have to do with you, Jesus, son of the most I've got? And then he says, I beg you, do not torment me. Because he commanded the unclean spirit to come out. But the demon asks, he said, hey, can I go into this pigs instead of going to the abyss or the bottomless pit, or I don't know exactly what all this looks like, but Jesus literally could have made their existence done. And they were like, hey, it's not quite time yet. Can you just let us go into the pigs instead? And so that verse, right? First number 32, now I heard a mini swine who was feeding there on the mountain, so they begged him that he would permit them to enter them and he permitted them. This demon's are real. Spiritual forces are real. But they all answer to the voice of God. "Why are we so afraid of?" I just haven't understood it. The Christians that are afraid of the book of Revelation, Christians that are, I mean, they look at the current events and they're like, oh, no, the world's ending. Yeah, we knew that. We were not supposed to be the one that surprised us. We're not supposed to be the one that surprised us. We were not supposed to be the one that surprised by this. We were the ones that were supposed to be telling people that it's coming. We were the ones with a message of hope, not of despair, because the one that all of creation is groaning against because of sin and spiritual wickedness and because we've decided to live apart from our creator this cosmic battle that we're a part of, there's still a winner. He's still in control. He has already told us what is going to happen. And we need to understand that even though demons are real, even though spiritual wickedness and forces are working against this church in this community, right now, we can be confident because the one we follow is more powerful. In fact, those guys have to ask our God for permission. Also just want to clarify, some of the opposition is us, right? Like we choose to go our own way, right? Because of our pride, the less of our eyes, the less of ours flesh, right? Like we choose to not follow Jesus Christ, right? And we can do that even as Christians. And as a real scary thing to put yourself in opposition to the God who's all powerful. So there's spiritual forces that work. They're real, but they all come under the command of God. And we will too, right? Scripture says that at the name of Jesus, every tongue will confess and every knee will bow. And Jesus Christ is Lord. He is everything. There's opposition to him. There are spiritual opposition to him. And then the second word I have for you today is rejection. You know, Jesus does what Jesus does. And we'll look at the other guy in just a second. But I want us to look at, okay, so if we think back to the examples of Luke chapter number seven, like Jesus comes in, there's a funeral and he gets up and he fills bad for the widow and he goes to the dead guy and he's like, hey, get up, go take care of your mom, right? Like, I mean, so like, how many people were mad that the dead guy got up? I mean, that's not part of the story. This person's healed, they're not mad. This person's healed, they're not mad. Like, the response to Jesus' actions up to this point have overall been overwhelmingly good. I mean, if we looked at his rotten tomato score, like, I mean, it'd be really good. People are pretty excited about what Jesus is doing. But here Jesus comes to this community and here's this demoniac, this man that's out of control that is unhealthy to be around other people. They've literally tried to, like, imprison this man and now he's living in the tombs and the caves where they bury their dead people and you can't even go talk to your dead relative or, I mean, they're not there anyway, but like, their body's there, right? Like, there's this oppression that's happening because of these demons here. Oh, I forgot to talk about that. Anyway, I'll mention that in a second. Post-summit brain, I guess, I don't know. Here's the thing, this demoniac is completely out of control and yet Jesus comes and takes care of the problem and the people of the city don't care about that man's problems. They only focus on what they want. Whoa! Okay, so here's what I forgot to talk about. What was the demons, Jesus, what's your name? And the demon says Legion, right, you know? Like, I don't have a cool voice, sorry, I don't know what to do there, but I can't sound like thousands of voices all at once, right? But like, seriously, like, if we're harkening to like a Roman Legion, that's like four to 6,000 soldiers. And so how many demons are possessing this human being? Man, I don't know. But like, there's, I mean, this is not normal, this is not regular, this is something that's crazy and out of control to an extreme extent. And the request is not that they go into another pig, the request is that they go into an entire herd. And when they go into the entire herd, and there's some interesting things there about like possession and now we're seeing that, you know, there are spiritual forces that can control humans, there are spiritual forces that can control animals, there are spiritual forces that can control different parts of nature, right? This battle that we're facing, it's not just the physical, but it does affect this physical, right? And so these demons are cast out and they go into these pigs, and the pigs go completely nuts. And they go kill themselves rather than survive with demons inside of them, and they jump off, and they go kill themselves. And now there's thousands, there's an entire herd, there's profit that has been lost for the people of this town. Oh, there we go. I mean, how, how, we don't have a lot of farming down here. When I was up in Buffalo, like, I mean, you would hear talk all the time about it, when it's raining or not, because the cattle, you know, they need their food and their water, right? And so like, I mean, it becomes a pretty vibrant part of your conversation with people in the community. Oh, it hasn't rained, and it looks like the droughts here, you know, but, and so for this community, they just lost their money. They lost their way of living. They lost it all, and they come, and they hear what happens, and they see what happens, and it says that they were afraid. They were afraid. Listen, God has the power over absolutely everything. But if we are so focused on what we might lose, we will not see what God is doing. And instead of being afraid for like, not following God, we will be afraid of what we will lose. And these people came to Jesus, they came and they saw, and they were afraid, they're like, how are we gonna feed our family? How are we gonna, you know, we were gonna build a new gate for the city, and we were gonna, you know, like, oh no, everything's changing, and oh no, the guy we couldn't control, that we thought we, you know, he was the devil we knew, we wanted to, you know, we were fine with him as long as he stayed in his little corner. But now here's this new guy, and he's just upending everything, he's ruining life, to kill our pigs, he got rid of our favorite demon, and like, man, what are we gonna do now? And they became so afraid of what they were going to lose that they didn't see the work that Jesus was doing. And instead, they actually wanted to be apart from him. They were so afraid of what God could do, they didn't want to be with him, and I told him to leave. And the same is true in our lives. When we become so enamored with what we want, and what our design is, what our plans are, and how big is my retirement accountant, how big is my boat, and, you know, how, I mean, I'm wearing white sneakers, like, man, pretty nice. But I mean, they're dirty, I probably need another pair of sneakers, right? I mean, we just can become so enamored with things that ultimately, in eternity, don't matter. And we can become so afraid of what God will ask of us, or what God will require of us, or where God will lead us, that we actually would rather live without him. This is the state of mankind. This is the state of our country. This is the state of so many in our families, that we care so much about ourselves, that we would rather live apart from God. They reject him, and they cast him out. This is different. This is like the turning point. Jesus has done the great work that everywhere else so far has just been applauded. And now he does the same thing here, and then he does the same thing here, and he does the same thing, right? He does the same thing, right? He does the same thing, right? And now he does the same thing here, and he gets kicked out. And Jesus is not surprised by this, that's why he told them at the beginning of the chapter, "Hey, people will reject me, people will fall away." But what do we do? The parable, the sower, and the seeds, the parable wasn't to teach us to be a different soil. The parable was to teach us to keep spreading the word, to keep sharing, because even in the rejection, the last word I have for you is deliverance. See, I have no idea why Jesus went across that sea, went to this place of the Gatorines, because it sure looks like from the story as I read it, they get off the boat, they cast the demon out of this one guy, and then the whole town comes out and kicks him back into the boat to go back where he came from. And so, as far as I can tell, it looks like Jesus came over the sea for this one man. He was willing to go straight into that storm. He was willing to go across to a different place, because there was a man there who needed him. And if we just take a moment to look at this man, we get to see some beautiful things happen. We get to see that he gets a new freedom right? The demons are cast out, like the bonds of his oppression are broken, the chains are off, and he's in his right mind. We see in him a new attitude. He has now this joy that's within him, he has the right state of mind when the people come, and they're like, oh, it didn't take like five weeks to figure out, hey, this guy's kind of feeling better. It was an instantaneous thing where people who had seen this demoniac, now when they saw him sitting there, they knew without a shadow of a doubt, this man is better. This man, I mean, he's got joy in his life. He's got peace, he's not agitated, he's not crazy, he's in control. He has a new freedom, he has a new attitude, and he has a new purpose. You know, Jesus heals him, and then Jesus is being cast out, Jesus is being rejected, and here in verse number 38, it says, "Now the man from whom the demons "that departed begged him, that he might be with him." Man, this man's desire, his whole desire now is to be with Jesus. And that's, you know, when I say that our entire existence is that we would experience a life of hope, it's that being with Jesus. We come here, I come here on a weekly basis because I wanna be with Jesus, and throughout the week, because of the oppression, and because of rejection, sometimes my own rejection, I need the reminder, I need others to push me and point me, and bring me back to a desire to be with Jesus. This hope comes from following Jesus, to being close to Jesus. Listen, if the only time you're spending trying to be close with Jesus is Sunday morning, then I'd argue it's not enough. We need our hearts, desire, our attitude, everything that drives us should, that may we be with Jesus. May we not go throughout our day, may we not go to work, may we not respond to our children in any way that is apart from Jesus. But in everything, we need to be seeking Jesus. How can we love God and love like God does today in this moment? And a new purpose. He wants to be with Jesus, but Jesus says this, Jesus sent him away saying verse number 39, "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you." Yes, people will reject Jesus. But when we have been delivered, when we have received life and joy and peace, we have to tell others. Share what great things God has done for you. Yes, people will reject it. People might even get angry at you. People might even cast you out. I'm not asking you to become some great theologian and explain the existence of life. I'm asking you to just share what God has done for you. Share what great things God has done for you. There's a passage I want to turn to you very quickly, second Corinthians chapter number five. Starting at verse number 17, it says this, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now, all things are of God who has been reconciled, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. And reconciled just means that there's two opposing parties that have been brought back together. And there has been opposition in creation since God was rejected by man, and rejected by angels who became demons. And God has, there has been an opposition within the world since that moment. And yet, we can be made right with God. We can be made right with our Creator because of the work that Jesus Christ has done. How great things Christ has done for us. And now we are ambassadors. We get to literally be the voice of God as this demoniac, or she's not a demoniac anymore, the man who once was possessed by demons. Now, instead of speaking with a voice of demons, is speaking the words of Christ, and he's imploring on Christ's behalf to the people of Gatorines that Christ has made a way for you to be delivered, for you to be saved and to have life. Not a life that's worried about how many pigs we have, but a life that is right with our Creator, that is no longer separated and trying to live apart from God. This is where life and hope and joy and peace really is. We are ambassadors. We have been delivered, have a new purpose. We implore others on Christ's behalf. Come back to God. Don't reject him. Don't be so focused on what you want and what you can control that you miss your Creator. This is what we share. And so I'd ask you today, personally, are you rejecting God? Where in your life are you trying to live apart from him? Where in your life are you seeking your own prophets or your own pleasures or your own comforts more than your Creator? Do you have a desire to be with him? And will you share with others what great things God has done for you? Let me pray. Lord, we come to you today and we are so thankful that you did what we could not. Because in the midst of rejection and opposition, we are overcome, but you are in control. And it was your voice who spoke and it was your life that you offered. And you have brought us back to God. You have reconciled us who were once enemies to now be children of God. And so Lord, I ask that you would just show us, open our eyes and develop in us a desire and a relationship with you. And then Lord, enable us, encourage us, show us, give us words to speak, open our eyes, to see those that are hurting and need, those that need you to deliver them. And oh Lord, we ask for our friends and for our family. We ask for those that are living against your will and against your design. Or do we beg of you to show yourself to be loving and true and powerful in their lives? Show them that you are the way of life. Lord, we pray this all in Jesus name, amen. Thank you guys so much for being here today. I do want you to know if you've never, if you are living a life of rejection of God, if you've never asked God to forgive you, if you've not experienced the deliverance that God can bring, then I would love to talk to you about that. And so I'm sure there's plenty others here who have experienced the deliverance from demons and sin and oppression that would love to share with you how you can have hope in Jesus Christ. So thank you all so much for being here. Please next week is Vacation Bible School. If you're a part of that, please make sure you're here to help be prepared after the service to decorate the church. And then Vacation Bible School, please be praying for that in the week because it is coming for all the students to come. Thank you so much. We'll see you next week. (silence) (silence) You You