Focus Text: Luke 8:26-39

KEY POINTS

•This story/sermon is in between stories (Sea of Galilee - “Let us cross over to the other side.” vs Jairus’s daughter) . The disciples were getting out of a near-death experience, and now they’re encountering another storm (demon-possessed man).

•We know that this is a town of Gentiles because there are pigs — Jews do not associate with pigs.

•Note that the guy was living among tombs - in that instance, he is considered dead. But Jesus encountered the man and still treated him like a human being, asking him, “What’s your name?”

•The demons asked Jesus to put them into the pigs. The pigs drowned, and the guy is not only healed, but liberated. This man became a disciple of Jesus (verse 35).

•There are legions of demons looking to destroy us: jealousy, division, envy, etc. But what you do is to call on the demon-chaser: JESUS.

•(verse 39) Jesus launched His Gentile ministry.

•Sometimes when something happens that disrupts the normal order of things, we become afraid. This formerly demoniac was now clothed and in his right mind. The people begged Jesus to leave (v 36-7). The man wanted to follow Jesus but He told the man to stay with his ppl and tell everyone what God had done for him (v 38-9). The man went around telling what JESUS did for him (Jesus is the face of God on earth).

•It would’ve been easier for the formerly demon-possessed man to leave his town and relocate, but God at times doesn’t give us easy assignments. He knows how to use us.

•We like to remind people of their past. But “That was then, but THIS IS NOW.” In Christ, we are a NEW creature. (2 Corinthians 5:17)