We are starting a new series today in the Gospel of Mark. If you brought a Bible, you can turn to chapter 1. We're going to start in verse 21. And the theme of this series is to move beyond, because we all have different obstacles that Jesus helps us move beyond and helps us overcome. And I want to say this is a joyful season at Grace right now. We are seeing people come to know Jesus, get baptized. We are seeing so many every month join our church family. We're also seeing people get connected in life groups, and many are stepping up to serve and to lead, and to lead life groups. And we are so grateful as we're walking forward together by faith, eyes on Jesus, glorifying God, And as we dive into Mark chapter one today, we're gonna see how it's the power and love of Jesus that helps us move beyond what holds us back. Maybe you're aware of what's holding you back in your walk with God. It's the power and love of Jesus that helps us move beyond what holds us back. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your victories. We give you all the glory. God, we read in your word that you are a warrior, you are mighty, you are loving, you are kind, you are gracious. We worship you. And Jesus, today we pray that we would see new victories in this season. Healing, restoration, overcoming for your glory. We pray in your name, Jesus. Amen. The Bible often talks about what is physical, what is tangible, what is visible, and all these things are very valuable and practical. At the same time, the Bible also talks about an invisible, unseen spiritual world that is also very real. And we need both as we want to grow in our faith and follow Jesus. Both are essential, the visible and practical and tangible, and also to understand and see victories in the unseen, spiritual, invisible realm. Today we're going to look at Jesus driving out demons. Can we say driving out demons together? One, two, three, driving out demons. That's what Jesus is doing in this text. He's helping people move beyond oppression. And maybe you've been feeling a heaviness, a battle, oppression, evil, darkness in the world. Maybe you've seen it recently, you've been thinking about it, and this is a passage that speaks directly to that situation, extremely relevant for us. And as we begin the gospel of Mark, there are four gospels, which means good news. They cover the teaching and life of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You can turn to the New Testament there. Mark is unique of the four. Mark is kind of like that action movie. You know when you're trying to picture a movie and pick one out and you're like, hmm, what are we going for tonight? When you pick an action movie, you're picking the Gospel of Mark because he dives right into the action and it just moves from one scene to the next and you get a sense of that power and also love of Jesus. And how are we going to take action in this message today? Here's the main thrust, and the action is to take back what the enemy has stolen. That's what Jesus is doing in this passage, taking back what the enemy has stolen. And then he equips and empowers us to take back what the enemy has stolen in Jesus' name. Here's John chapter 10 verse 10. Jesus says, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus says, I have come that you may have life and life to the full, abundant life. Eternal life, an abundant daily life, even though there's an enemy that comes to steal, we're gonna take it back in Jesus' name. Now, in this spiritual battle, I realize for some people here, maybe this is new. This is kind of eye-opening. Maybe you haven't read the Bible that much, and maybe you're used to just focusing on what you see in front of you. For others, maybe you have studied this, and this is going to be kind of a recalibrating and remembering about our spiritual battle. For all of us, I hope this is very empowering that you know you have options, God gives you power, and there's restoration. Light prevails over darkness. And so as we dive in, we're going to look at three questions today. It's a progression of three questions. And this is kind of, if it's your first weekend here at Grace, it's kind of a lively topic to start. We don't talk about driving out demons every week, but at the same time, it's throughout the Bible. We want to dive into it as well. Here's the three questions. The first one is, what is this oppression? Mark chapter one, starting in verse 21, what is this oppression? And when I say the word oppression, the idea here is that demons are real, demons are active, and they bring an influence, ultimately trying to pull you away from God, tear you down, accusation, and steal. That's what they're all about. And that's what we mean by oppression. Now let's take a look at the text. Mark chapter 1 verse 21 they went to Capernaum and when the Sabbath came Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach The people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority not as the teachers of law They were used to hearing the self-righteous Group of religious leaders and teachers and they're like Jesus is so different just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out and What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Here what we have is someone is possessed by an evil spirit. Now what's an evil spirit? What's a demon? A demon is one of the angels who have rebelled against God. That's a demon. The devil is a very powerful archangel rebelling against God. And maybe you've never seen in your entire life someone possessed by a demon. And in our culture that's often kind of rare to see that happen. In the Bible, it's very common. I've been to other countries. In some other countries, it's much more common. In America, it's not as common, and it might be something you never experience. But all of us have experiences that relate to evil, and there's kind of a spectrum in the Bible. On the one hand, the most extreme, we see this possession by an evil spirit, and I don't believe that a born-again Christian can be possessed by an evil spirit. Now that's one side of the spectrum. On the other side of the spectrum are lies. Lies that seem, I don't know, half-truths, small lies, but lies, that's the devil's native language, and when we believe a lie, whether that's about ourselves, oh, we're not that special, we're not made in God's image, you're not gifted, Or it could be about your spouse. It could be about the church. It could be about the Bible. You can't really rely on that. It could be about worship. It could be about sharing your faith. It could be about loving your neighbor. All these different lies in different parts of our lives. When we believe a lie, then we start to live a lie. And you know what happens? There becomes patterns of sin. and strongholds and footholds, and we give the devil room in our life. So along this spectrum, on the one side, devil, you know, demon possession, on the other side, lies, things that aren't true about God, things that aren't true, things that aren't true about life. The world comes in instead of the word, and we start to believe, and we sometimes make room for the devil in our lives, in our attitudes, in our actions, in our thoughts. And that's the spectrum that we see in the Bible. Now, to just drop a little bit of levity in here, I gotta give a shout out to the Mariners. Because, as you might know, some of you know, I can hear it, they are on the verge of a breakthrough and moving beyond. There has been a playoff-blocking demon there for about 20 years. And today, they are trying to break through and move beyond this stronghold that's been there. And some of you have been cheering them on. And so a little side note. OK, what is the demon saying? in this passage right here. The demon says, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. You know what's interesting? There's no demons who are atheists. Every demon knows, the devil knows, and they don't just know a little. He says, you're the holy one of Israel. The demon's spot on with theology here. And that declaration, Jesus isn't gonna be having demons announce who he is around town. That's not how it's gonna go down. But you point out here that in James 2.19, the half-brother of Jesus says, you believe that there's a God? good, because it's true. But even the demons believe that and shudder. In other words, the demons know there's a God, they know who Jesus is, and they fear God. And ultimately, they know that they're facing a judgment because the devil himself will be thrown into the lake of fire. He's a defeated foe. The demons know exactly what's going on in heaven. They know exactly who Jesus is, and that's made known in this text. Now, Jesus is gonna bring teaching, and he has authority. All authority has been given to him in heaven and the earth, and he's not just gonna teach, but now he's gonna walk the walk. He's gonna do both. He's gonna drive out. He's gonna take back. He's gonna drive out demons, and he's gonna overthrow the darkness. And it's not just in this passage. In Mark chapter 5, there's a man who is cutting himself. There's a man who is violent and out of control. There's a man who's naked. There's a man in torment. And Jesus shows up in Mark chapter 5, and there's a legion of demons, not just one demon. but a legion of demons. And again, there's a conversation where Jesus casts out the demons. They go into pigs. This man is restored, complete restoration. He's in his right mind. He's praising God. This man has now have peace, the peace of God for the first time. And all of this happens. The demons go into the pigs. The pigs run off the cliff. Why did the demons ask to go in the pigs? I don't know. Did they have thoughts about attacking Jesus? I mean, wild boars, who would want a big group of wild boars attacking you? Did they plan to jump over the cliff? I mean, the demons, steal, kill, and destroy, they moved the pigs over the cliff. Maybe they knew that if that happened, people would get upset at Jesus. You know what the people in the town said to Jesus after the pigs went over the cliff? They said, Jesus, one of the saddest phrases in the Bible, please leave. Jesus just cast out demons, and the town says, please leave. Jesus goes to the one, and this man who has now been rescued wants to serve and follow Jesus, because if Jesus has healed you, if you know how Jesus has driven out some darkness, your eagerness to serve him, your gratitude grows, he wants to serve Jesus. He says, are we traveling from place to place? And Jesus says, no, stay right here. Talk to your family. Decapolis, 10 cities. Spread the news, spread your story. And sometimes you might think, Jesus, do you want me there and over there and doing that? And Jesus is saying, no, just start with your family in the places where I have you, where you live, work, learn, or play, and bring glory to me right there. right there, right now. That's the plan. And notice that God, in his grace, will take someone who's known as being possessed by a legion of demons, cutting himself in really bad shape, and becoming an instrument of God's grace, becoming God's ambassador in the community. If you've gone through some stuff, And you might think, oh, God's probably done with me. He's probably not gonna ever use me in any significant way. Look what happens in Mark chapter five. It's people who know demons that God raises up to be his ambassadors and spokespeople in their community. I wanna point out just a couple other passages because there's like over seven times Jesus shows up and he's driving out demons. And what happens when he does that? We saw that in the first instance, people said, leave our town. In Matthew chapter 12, there's a man who's blind and mute. And you know what? Jesus restores his speech. Jesus restores his sight. He is praising God. I want to point out clearly, just because someone is blind doesn't mean there's a demon involved, okay? And there's not a demon behind every single bush when you drive down the road. So we don't need to ever walk in fear, and we don't need to over-demonize stuff. In this instance, that was part of the demon's work, is to steal. And when this man worships, do you know what the crowd says at this time? Jesus is driving out demons by the power of demons. Isn't it interesting now that Jesus is driving out darkness and demons, and the people all respond with, wonderful, wow, that is so great, things are getting healthy and restored. No, actually they turn and say, would you leave? And other ones say, oh, you're just doing that, and you're doing that in the power of Satan. Jesus isn't doing it in the power of Satan. It's not what's going on, but they try to twist it. Matthew chapter 15, there's a Canaanite woman. Her daughter now has a demon. Jesus brings healing and faith. It just shows that the love of Jesus will extend to anyone. Samaritans, Canaanites, his love was radical. People got upset because his love and power were so radical. Matthew chapter 17, there was a dad, his son had convulsions, thrown into the fire, thrown into the water, and Jesus restores again. You know what the dad says? First, if you can do this. Do you ever feel like that with Jesus? If you can do it, I don't know, if you can. And then he says, help my unbelief. I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. There are gonna be battles that you face where your prayer to God is gonna be help my unbelief right now. and God does a miracle there. Mary Magdalene, one more mention, she had seven demons in her and what you see is that God restores her and now she's serving Jesus, following Jesus, again God's ambassador, God's representative, some people that have been in some dark, dark, evil places. God meets them there, restores them, helps them move beyond and shine the light of Jesus in this world. It's throughout the scripture. And here's what you need to know when it comes to spiritual battle. When you open up the Bible in the book of Genesis, what you see is there's a devil, crafty serpent. And what's his tactic? Drop in lies, drop in doubt. Get Adam and Eve to doubt the word of God. If you just neglect and doubt the word of God, go with what you think instead of what God thinks. Do life your way instead of God's way. All of your solutions instead of God's solutions. You know what's going to make you happy. Forget about what God says is going to make you happy. That was the twist. And self-centered me right now, yes, this is what I want to do. Look what happened, the fall. And as you read through the Bible, there is this continual battle, God versus the devil. And whether you want to deny that fact or not, good versus evil, God versus the devil, that cosmic battle will continue to play out in every nation and generation. And we will near a time because we know what's coming. The prophecy is laid out in the Bible. And you know what's coming? A false trinity where you have the devil, the Antichrist. So who's the Antichrist? This really powerful military government political leader who comes in looking like peace and then turns the whole deal. And then there's also a false prophet, a false trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the real God. And then we have this false trinity. And moving towards this control where this religious leader, this false prophet, connects with this antichrist. There's many who are against Christ, but there's one, the Bible says, who is an antichrist. And so sometimes as Christians are watching now and we get closer and closer to Christ's return, there shouldn't be any surprise when we start to see things shift and the control and the stage is set for an antichrist and a false prophet in one world order and pushing Jesus aside, demanding to be worshiped. That's where it goes, folks. It doesn't mean we're helpless. It doesn't mean we're going to lose the victory. But we gotta know what's going on. Jesus said, you understand the weather, but you don't understand the signs of the times. Like, you don't understand the cosmic battle. You're just not paying attention to what's going on. It doesn't mean we live in fear. We're not defeated at all. And we're gonna talk about being empowered. We're gonna talk about overcoming. But throughout the Bible, the devil's at work. And with Adam and Eve, just pulling them away from God. And it's just kind of crafty. Do you ever feel that wandering away from God? I'm just not going to church. I'm just not worshiping. I'm just not hungry for the word. I'm just not seeking him. Just that drifting away from God. With Job, it's unfounded criticism. It's accusation. What does the devil do? Unfounded criticism. The devil is the accuser. That's the work of the devil, to bring in unfounded accusations. That's what Job faces. And then we have some other instances in the New Testament, Ananias and Sapphira, they're in the church and they're lying. And the devil feels their thoughts, they're lying, and God wants the church to be holy. And so God's gonna prevail, but Ananias and Sapphira say yes to the devil. You know what's interesting? Peter is someone who, again, is following the Lord, loving the Lord, but you know what? Peter, well-intentioned. Sometimes the most well-intentioned things are the most evil things. And Peter says, Jesus, we don't want you going to the cross, don't go to the cross. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. Now, it doesn't mean that Peter's Satan. It doesn't mean Peter's demon-possessed. But Peter is a proponent of something that's not from God, to keep Jesus away from the cross. And Jesus has to call it out for what it is. That idea is coming from the pit, that he wouldn't die for our sins. because he is going to be that sacrificial lamb of God. And in these different instances that play out, even Judas, it says the devil entered Judas at work in Judas. Sometimes someone who you serve, Jesus served Judas, is going to turn against you and try to turn it around like a Judas. And all these different dynamics, we see them played out in different contexts here. What can we summarize this oppression? There is a false accusation, a tearing down, an intimidation that happens. Where we want to be real solid is that we notice the lies, the things that don't line up with God's Word, the things that don't come from the Holy Spirit. Notice those lies about yourself, your work, so many different situations. One little lie If you hold it, believe it, and live it, it can lead to foothold, strongholds, room where the devil can work, and starts to steal. Steal your joy, steal your peace, steal some of your relationships, steal your hopes, steal your dreams. The devil wants to steal your closeness with God. That's what the devil wants to steal. But we're not having it. We're taking it back. And there's a way out, the power and love of Jesus. That's the answer to overcome, to abide with Jesus. and be on fire for the Lord. That's the first part, is what is the oppression? Had to unpack that. Now the second one is what are your options? And this is the empowering. I wanna tell you today, you have so many good options in this spiritual battle. You have so many good options. My prayer is that you walk out today feeling so empowered in this spiritual battle. Now let's take a look at verse 25, and what does Jesus say? Verse 25, be quiet, said Jesus sternly, come out of him. Again, this is Jesus driving out the demon. What are the words that Jesus says? Be quiet, come out. Be quiet. The voices, the accusations, the cruelty, Jesus in authority is gonna silence, be quiet. You've said enough, demon. You've said enough. This conversation is over. Be quiet. Your work is not from God. Be quiet. And then also, come out. Driving out. Distance. Silence, distance. What does Jesus do? Silence, distance. Silence, distance. This is not coming from God, so we're gonna silence that voice, we're gonna listen to the voice of the Father, we're gonna create that distance so there can be health and restoration. Silence and distance. Because what does the devil want to do? In the Bible, we see the devil wants to blind our eyes so we don't see what's going on. Outwit us with different wily schemes. Also, roaring around, devouring, sometimes like a lion. But then other times, masquerading as an angel of light. Oh, this is all I'm doing. Well, I'm just doing a little bit of this. Oh, this is well-intentioned. Oh, I'm just trying some of that. So sometimes roaring like a lion, sometimes crafty, sometimes cunning, sometimes just looking so innocent, like an angel of light. Oh, it's spiritual. Oh, you might want to consider this. Oh, don't you know that that? And appearing to be on your side, tempting with half-truths. Here's where our confidence in God roars in. Romans 16, 20, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. Romans 16, 20, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. Having confidence in God, empowered by God, you're gonna see victories in this realm. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus was sending out the disciples two by two. And what we appreciate and sometimes imitate is that we go into this world shining the light and love of Jesus, connecting and serving. But there's other instructions Jesus gives the disciples as they go into the world. One of them is to spread the gospel to every man, woman, and child. Another one he says, drive out demons, drive out darkness. So we want to, again, be ambassadors of Jesus who connect, who love, who serve, who spread the gospel and drive out darkness. And that calling is on your life. Now, Jesus is gonna cast out the demon and he's also gonna help the disciples to learn how to drive out the darkness. Does that sound good? Like if you could talk to Jesus today, would you be like, Jesus, could you teach me how to drive out the darkness? Because that's what the disciples were learning. Now, I had a situation this week where one of our children is in the middle of division of fractions. Would you say that the demons sometimes sneak into fractions and division? I mean, that thing gets kind of intense. It's beyond just adding and subtracting common denominators. You're trying to figure out. And sometimes when they ask for help, I'll just go old school. Because I haven't been caught up with the four other ways you can do it. So I'll just jump into old school how we did it. And they're just looking at me like, what are you doing? And I could, when they say, can you help me with division on fractions, I could just step in and do it all myself. And be like, there you go. I think you're going to get an A. You have no idea how I did it, but there's the answers. Jesus doesn't just cast out demons. It's like, wow, Jesus can cast out demons. OK, cool. No, he turns the disciples. And he wants to help them learn how to drive out darkness. So I might do one to start out with, and they can see fractional division. But then I ask them to do it, and I'm watching. And then they do another one, and we debrief on it. Because my goal is that they know how to divide fractions far better than I know how to divide fractions. Even if none of us like it, I just wanted to learn it. And Jesus really wants to show us, the Bible says resist the devil. We say, how do you resist the devil? Like, how do you keep the devil and demons out of your home, out of your marriage, out of your parenting, out of our church? Like, what could we do to change the culture and environment where the love and light of Jesus is shining so bright and so spiritually vibrant? What could we possibly do? And the Bible says here's a couple things. Number one, repent. Repentance means refreshment. It means like a U-turn when you're driving. It means that you say, God, search my heart and just see if there's anything wicked in there and come in Holy Spirit. Take over. Resident and president, just take over my life right now. And as that happens, habitual sin is broken, strongholds are broken, footholds are broken. Repentance is healthy. Any sin that God convicts you of, it's a gift because he's showing you a better way. It's a step to freedom. You don't sit in guilt and shame. You just say, God, I want to repent. I want to make all the room in my house for you today. Repentance. Here's another one, prayer and worship. Do you know there's spiritual power in worship? It's not just to sing a couple songs. In the Bible, when we start to praise the Lord, God is magnified, enemies scattered. During the week, I just worship God. I'm in my car, I'm turning it on. My kid's in the car, I turn on worship. They bring their friends in the car, it's gonna be worship. Worship changes the culture and the environment. Worship God. YouTube, I'm finding that song. Spotify, wherever they are. Singing, sometimes I'm just going to start singing praises. You say, well, yeah, you're a pastor. That's what you're supposed to do. It's on your job description. Worship God all week. No, I'm telling you, if I was never a pastor, I would be worshiping the Lord because the atmosphere changes. You just turn it on in your house. Reliance is another one. The one who's in you is greater than the one who's in the world. The Holy Spirit in you is greater than any demon or the devil. The Holy Spirit in you. What does that mean? Let's lean in. Let's lean in. If you feel the spiritual battle, you start to feel fear or timidity, that's not coming from God. Power and love comes from God. You just lean in. You say, Jesus, rebuke. Holy Spirit, take over. I believe in you, Holy Spirit. You focus on God. You let God take over. God's power is going to show. And then you have the scripture. And Jesus, when he was face to face with the devil, he kept quoting scripture. This is the sword. You've got the armor of God, breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the gospel of peace, belt, buckle of truth. You've got it. But the offensive is the sword. It's the word of God. You don't think there's power in God's Word in the spiritual realm? You say it, you read it, you live it, you pass it on. As you get the Word of God flowing in your life, there is spiritual power to take down demonic strongholds. And here's one that's subtle that you can do, forgive. Fully forgive. When Jesus was crucified and murdered, the worst injustice this world will ever see, what did he say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing. Sometimes you might be so angry at somebody, and they don't even know what they're doing. The devil's working in them. Demon's working in them. You've turned them into the enemy. Jesus forgives from the cross. He just says, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. When you forgive everyone, just like pushes the devil out the door of your house. When you don't forgive, you harbor, it's like a poison, it's a jail, it's a stronghold, it's a welcome, a root of bitterness, the devil says, I'll camp out right here. I'll set up shop right here. You forgive everyone fully and the light of God shines. We had my wife's parents come from Iowa and they really wanted to see a few things. You know, the museum in terms of flight and the history of flight. They wanted to go to Bremerton and take a tour of a naval aircraft. that was in battles. I'm just going to show you some different pictures. I snuck down. Underneath, there's so many different rooms. It's like three hours of exploring in this worship. That's where they were sleeping. You can just see it's battle conditions. You take a look at all the different rooms and you can see the equipment that's set up. It was interesting to go in there. Now, I never served in the military. I have great appreciation for those who have served and who even currently are risking their lives. And to step into this battle environment and to see what are the tools, what are the resources, what would it be like to be in a battle? And for many of us, we're never going to be in an actual war. And we're not going to know what that feels like. And war is brutal. War is often tragic. I'm not promoting war in any way, shape, or form here. Sometimes, you know, it plays out and there's necessary things to do. But overall, what I'm trying to do is use this as a picture of a spiritual war that we are all in. That we are all in. And what is going to be our response? And here's three options. And you might think through in the spiritual battle where you're at. Some people just live in denial. Oh, there's no real devil. There's no real demons. There's no battle between good and evil. There's no battle between lies and truth. Like, whatever. We're in charge. We're human. We call the shots. Like, I'm just going to do my thing. And that's where some people are. Denial. Then there's other people who are in the battle, but not using the tools and the resources God's given to you. It's like, is there a battle? Yeah, there is. Is the devil real? Yeah, he is. Is he dropping lies all the time? Yep. Does he accuse all the time? Yep, yep. Does he want to steal great stuff and steal your sense of self-worth and steal your close ones? God, yep, yep, he does. So what are you doing about it? Oh, nothing. I just work and I get up and I go to school and then I watch some TV and I'm on my phone a little bit on social media and then I go to bed. You do anything about this battle? No, no, no, not really do anything, but I know it's real. I know it's real. That's a second option. It's common. Third option is you get equipped and you're empowered and you start to say here's the Word of God. Here's praise Here's repentance. Here's forgiveness. Here's worship. Let's go. God's gonna bring a victory Just think about where you're at right now, and then as you read through the Bible, in Acts chapter 16, I just want to give you a glimpse. This is now followers of Jesus, and it's direct. Acts 16, 16, here's a situation. Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. I want to tell you, if you're going to palm readers, fortune tellers, if you're going to tarot cards, it's not from God. It's not from God. Horoscopes, I can just go down the line. It's not from God. The same then, the same now. She earned a great deal of money. Yep, it's lucrative for her owners by doing this fortune telling business. The girl followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, these are servants of the Most High God. Now again, demons know who God is. Demons know who's serving God. They even say, Jesus I know, Paul I've heard of. And when these religious hucksters were involved, they said, who are you guys? Demons know who's serving God. They know who's committed to God. And so here they are. These men are servants of the Most High God. They're telling you the way to be safe. That's true again, but we're not gonna let demons be our PR. And she kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and he said to the Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. And at that moment, the Spirit left her. What did Paul do? In the name of Jesus, we're taking it back. In the name of Jesus, this woman is gonna be restored. In the name of Jesus, this ministry will go forward. In the name of Jesus, darkness will not have the final say. In the name of Jesus, and there's power and authority and love in the name of Jesus. And you have options. Paul had options. We have options every day. And it leads to the last part. What does restoration look like? Okay, we know there's restoration. We worship a God who restores. What does the restoration look like? Let's go back to Mark 1, verse 26. The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, what is this? a new teaching, and with authority. He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him. And news about Jesus spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee." Notice a shake and a shriek. Now, this is just how my mind works. Woke up this morning thinking, that sounds like a drive-through. Yeah, I'll take a shake and a shriek to go. Maybe it's October, but I was thinking a little bit like trick or treat, shake or shriek. What's going on here? A shake and a shriek. When the devil has had some territory and you're trying to take it back, the devil resists. The devil is tenacious. Demons resist. They don't want you to have the victory. They don't want Jesus to have the victory. So there's a shaking. And you might even feel a shaking. I've been in the room when people, demons are cast out. I've watched it, you know, online, demons cast out, the shaking. And you might feel shaken a little bit. This man felt shaken. When you're going up good against evil, and you're starting to drive the evil out, there's a shaking. And then there's a shrieking. Because the evil now, you know, ultimately, I got to say where it's going, the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire. You know, people today say, oh, hell's not real. You know, God didn't make hell. He did. It is real. The lake of fire was built for the devil. And that shrieking is that defeated foe. Like, my plan's not going to work. I'm not going to win this. There's a shaking and a shrieking, and it's the light that drives out the darkness. Aren't you glad that Jesus is the light of the world? And aren't you glad that he says, you are the light of the world? And aren't you glad that you can step into any situation, as dark as it is, continue to be the light of the world, because that's who you are, and know that the light overcomes the darkness. that when light and darkness come together light overcomes darkness and we feel that confidence in the in the prophet Joel he said the years that the locusts have eaten I just hear steal kill and destroy the locusts have stolen years the locusts have stolen ground the locusts have stolen that God says I will restore it to you When Joseph, his own family, they threw him first, they thought about killing him, and they said, no, let's just do him in slavery instead. And then he was mistreated, he was thrown in jail, false accusations at every turn, and yet the Bible says God was still with him. his employers, you just take a look at, that was both man and woman, the house where he was serving, you could see people in the jail that promised things, like everyone continues to not be faithful to him, but he keeps his eyes on God, and this is what he says at the end, you meant it for evil, God did it for good. That's what we sang as we came to this building. Although the enemy meant it for evil, God turned it around for good. Ultimately, that's the cross of Jesus Christ. The devil thought he won when Jesus was killed. But it was Jesus that, through death, overcame death and defeated death. that the devil thinking finally the son of God is finished. No, it was through that death that Jesus defeated death and overcame death through the resurrection. What was meant for evil, God turned for good for the saving of any person in any nation or generation who will turn to him, receive the grace of God, not try to earn it through performance. That's the victory. That's the victory. We know who wins. We know where the power is. This is Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Bob Sorge is a pastor known as the pastor who can't talk. And everything Bob says is a whisper. And it's been this way for 20 years. But his voice is not a whisper. It is strong for the Lord. The volume is down. The spiritual temperature is hot. And this is what he says. The nature of the enemy's warfare in your life is to cause you to become discouraged, and to cast away your confidence and give up your hope of God's deliverance. That's what the enemy wants. The enemy wants to numb you into a coping kind of Christianity that has given up hope of seeing God's resurrection power. Have you lost any hope? Have you lost that experience and sense of God's resurrection power? And I can imagine if a pastor whose gift is teaching and preaching suddenly doesn't have the voice, it would be easy to conclude that maybe God isn't gonna use me. Maybe his resurrection power's not real. But I wanna tell you, his power's made perfect in our weakness. And Bob Sorge has gone on to, he's written dozens of books. Dozens of books and what we see is that God inspires and empowers so many people through his writing and how he continues to pursue God Find a strength in God. I want to tell you if you've experienced a setback recently. That's not the end of the story And in your weakness, God's power will come. And I'm going to close with this illustration because I think it speaks to the restoration that God brings. I was at a soccer game recently and noticed that people were making a lot of comments to the referee. Have you ever seen this happen in a sports game? Have you ever seen it happen? Well, I think it's interesting. There's just no job like being a referee, right? I mean, can you think of another job where people literally get in your face, curse you out, swear in, point fingers, sometimes push in, and I'm watching this happen to this referee. And as this is happening, I'm thinking, like, where is it written that, like, oh, yeah, you can be so cruel to referees, and that's just awesome. That is so Christian. That is so biblical. Way to go. And I'm watching this thing play out, and I'm thinking, this is not for a championship. there's nobody, hardly anybody watching. It's like you've got thousands of people watching. We're not in a stadium. There's no rings, you know, but you've got these people that I assume are pretty, you know, generally people making good choices, like going after the ref. And so I just sensed like, I'm going to go over to the ref. And I just followed him on his way up to the parking lot. And I didn't know what to say, but I feel like I got to say something. And I said, good job. And then I said, you've done better than most referees. I don't know if I'm grading on a curve or what's going on, but I just said, good job. You really, you did better than most. You really did. And then I just said the word, Jesus loves you. And he just looked over and he said, thank you. Thank you. And it was just that moment of restoration in the parking lot when maybe someone's been beat up, maybe they felt like it wasn't quite right, and just that word to remind someone of God's power and God's love, that God restores, that God is good, and that light prevails over darkness. Can we take back what the enemy's stolen? Can we take back? Is the oppression real? Have you felt it? Yeah, let's not deny it. Let's not act powerless. Let's not just be silent. Let's not be fearful. That's not what God wants. But we have power in the name of Jesus to take back what the enemy's stolen. I bet it might start in your own walk with God. And I bet it doesn't go too far beyond your own home. I bet it starts there. And then as a church, as the body of Christ, could we take it back? Silence and distance, a shake and a shriek, the power and love in Jesus' name. We're talking about move beyond. And the way we've been wrapping up each sermon is to give these options right here. And if you want to take a next step in your walk with God, you just text the church phone number. You say, I'm ready to follow Jesus today for the first time. What an amazing day. We thank God for everyone that's making these decisions right now. I want to get baptized and honor the Lord. I need a church family. I'm tired of doing things on my own. Tired of being isolated. I'm tired of being just off in a corner. I want to be part of a church family. I want to get in a group. I want to get some time in the Word. I want to get around some people and get into the Word. I want to grow in my faith, get in a life group. I want to serve. I know I'm gifted. I want to serve. I want to serve more and I want to build up people. I want to serve. What's your next step? Let's pray. Father God, we pray that you would free today, that you would bring freedom. Jesus, we thank you that you're still driving out darkness, driving out demons, and that you empower us, God, through your word and scripture, through praise, through forgiving. There's practical things, God, you give us to do that we will see victories in light, God, and I pray for restoration today in relationships with you. I pray for restoration, new desire for closeness with you. A returning to you, Jesus. A saying yes to the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives. I pray for a restoration in families, God. A restoration of hopes and dreams, of visions, careers, God. Restoration of using gifts today. God, we pray for a restoration in Auburn and in The Sound. God, a work of your spirit. Drive out the darkness. We trust you. We look to you. You are a mighty warrior. We give you praise. The battle belongs to you. And we'll follow you, Jesus. We pray in your name. Amen.