In MARK’S GOSPEL, CHAPTER 5, is recorded the incident of JESUS AND THE DEMONIAC, or THE MAN WHO WAS POSSES-
SED WITH THE LEGION; and a Legion in the Roman army was
6,000 men.
Now Matthew and Luke see Two Men and Mark only deals with One. And the theologians tell me that Mark’s is the Middle Person. And so, consequently, he is dealing with the Stronger of the two demoniacs.
Jesus encountered him as He went to the land of Gadara. And so, the man is possessed, spends a lot of time away from everybody and cuts himself. Hu runs unto Jesus, and Jesus goes to meet him, and Changes His Life.
I want to pick up at VERSE 15 because the others in town came to see Jesus, and they came to see him "who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed in HIS RIGHT MIND. And they were afraid."
I want to talk about: "A RESTORED MIND."
It is interesting to have a Whole Side of You that is Not Tapped: that’s Your Spiritual Side. And we’ve live so long simply dealing with the Intellect and the Flesh, the Sensual and Intellectual Side, that a Whole Side of Us Goes Untapped; and that’s Our Spiritual Side.
It is significant to be Spiritual if you’re going to Survive; because somehow when you’re spiritual, your Strength is not tied into your Circumstances or Situations or Controlling People; because something moves within you that is not measured to you by others, but is measured to you by God.
It is significant to understand that, because THE FIRST THING THAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS MAN WAS HE LOST HIS SELFHOOD.
Selfhood is actually more Spiritual than it is Communal -Selfhood. If I am an Individual, then I’m not going to please you all the time; because my Individualistic Quality is going to Seaprate Me from You.
I have to make an effort to close to you when I Understand Who I Am; because once I see with the right eyes Who I Am, then you may or may not suit me. You follow what I mean? This is demonstrated in Verse 15. Because when He Comes To Himself, Folk Get Afraid! Before they tried to bind; they didn’t try to Change Him!
I want to point out to you that oftentimes that Side of us that is so Untapped, becomes the ASPECT OF RIDICULE FOR US, when we decide to Become More Spiritual when it deals with Meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we have decided is our avenue to God.
Religion has often become the Laughingstock for the Sciences. The more intellectuals decide that those of us who want to be Spiritual, become Something to Laugh At. I’ll give you an example: Its alright for me to spend my money on drugs, but then I’m foolish if I decide to Tithe; because sometimes, people associate Spirituality and the enjoyment of Spiritual Experiences as Crazy or Ridiculous. Anytime I step outside of what is decided by you as normal for me and decide to go down a path into understanding who I am separate from you, all of a sudden, I become a Laughingstock; simply because I want for me what you haven’t decided is important to you and your group! All of a sudden, I am relegated to be less than the group. Its either I am what you want me to be or I am nothing at all. It seems as if the intellect says, "Be anything but Spiritual!" Its as if there’s real fulfillment or rationality in anything but God!
But I’m here to say that if I know God, I know Myself! If I don’t know God, I’m Disconnected from Myself! Because God has a way of Challenging me more than anything that I have anything to do with.
God brings me in face with me, and forces me to ask myself, ’Why am I here?’
Dallas Williard said: "Given our cultural context, it is all too easy to believe that the spiritual life may be a life opposed to the body. So the idea is widespread that you can only really be spiritual after you are dead." Many do believe that you can only be spiritual after you are dead.
But, you see, its the Spiritual Man who decides Where He’s Going In His Life. The Sensual Man is already tied into the Impulses that flow from his Circumstances. And so, now he then lives with the vicissitudes and fluxions of his circumstances. As they move up and down, he moves up and down. Because he’s not spiritual enough to control his destiny, he has to go with the flow of his environment!
You see, World-Changers are not people who flow with you when you flow. They flow, it seems, on an independent cycle, running on a different wave. Because Movers and Shakers have to be Connected
to the Power of the Universe and Disconnected from other People’s Concepts and Ideas! If I want to be Spiritual, I can be spiritual; because you don’t decide for me how much Faith I ought to exhibit. You don’t decide for me how much Power I ought to have in my Mind. And you don’t decide for me how much Love I want to have for whoever I want to have it for! Because a Spiritual Person is not Controlled by Intellect, by Emotion, by Attitudes or by Anything that is Around them.
Many of us live under Spiritual Peer-Pressures, where we are almost ashamed to associate with any real Commitment to God. You get real quiet when you get around certain folk, and you can’t be who you are because something inside of you has awakened. And so, consequently you’re always Trying to Explain why you’re not with the group; or Explain why you’re not being self-destructive; or Explain why you’re off to yourself trying to find yourself in a world that has lost itself. Because you’re trying to Intellectualize something that God has done for you that He has not done for everybody. I’ve just had a meeting with God and it Changed my life and I’m not the Same! I’m not talking about ’Going to Church.’ I’m talking about A MEETING WITH GOD!
And so, WE TRY TO EXPLAIN. But how can you Explain being Crazy one day and in your right mind the next? That’s defies all psychologists, because they want to work on you awhile at $50/hour to get you straight. BUT ONE MEETING WITH GOD, AND NO MORE COCAINE! I MET WITH GOD AND STOP BEING SELF-DESTRUCTIVE!
The Doubt of Man’s Science, the Skepticism of Man’s Science, calls SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA. I’m defining RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA as EXTREMELY UNUSUAL. Its because we live in a world where to stand on our own and to be our own person IS EXTREMELY UNUSUAL. The world says: ’You’re just a part of the pack. We determine your perameters. We tell you how to live, how to look, how to think. And if you don’t think like we think, you are ostracized as being SOMETHING EXTREMELY UNUSAUL!
The world doesn’t understand what’s going on in my life. I will not allow them to define me as a PHENOMENON. I am just as Human as they are. But I have Tapped into another of life, and that is, I HAVE FOUND MYSELF! I KNOW WHO I AM. AND I FOUND OUT THAT WHEN I FOUND MYSELF, THAT I’M NOT ATTACHED TO YOU. IF YOU WANT TO STOP WHERE YOU ARE, THAT’S FINE WITH ME. BUT DON’T PUT YOUR LIMITS ON ME AND MY LIFE; BECAUSE I CAN BE WHATEVER GOD HAS PLANNED FOR ME TO BE; AND ITS MORE THAN WHAT I AM RIGHT NOW! I’VE GOT TO BE WHAT I’VE GOT TO BE!!!
But anytime you decide to get closer to the Lord, People want to call you Unlearned and call you Ignorant. But there’s a side of me that has been lying here dormant while you’ve been walking on me
all my life, and now that I’ve decided to come alive and find out Who I Am, now you want to call me Ignorant! I’m Not Ignorant. I’m Blessed, that Who I Am!! Turn to someone and say: ’TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK!’
My friends, its Your Life, You’ve Got to Live It! Its Your Life, You’ve Got To Walk In It! Its Your Destiny, You’ve Got To Fulfill It! And you can’t fulfill it waiting on someone else’s Commentary - GET YOUR
LIFE BACK!!!!
Some regard it as Religious Phenomena whne they don’t Understand a Thing. You don’t understand where I’m coming from. You don’t understnand the miracle I needed just to get up this morning. You don’t understand what God is doing in my life, that one day I can be a total abject failure and the next day my life opens up like a book.
That wasn’t done by Scientific Experimentation. God stepped in, turned me around , set things in order. One day I was Crazy, and the next day I was Clothed and IN MY RIGHT MIND - YES, I GOT MY MIND BACK!!!
When you walk by Faith, you Break out of the Mold. When you walk in the Spirit and come into your Selfhood, the First Thing You Realize is: I HAVEN’T BEEN LIVING LIKE I SHOULD, AND SOMEBODY ELSE HAS BEEN CONTROLLING MY DESTINY, WHEN I OUGHT TO CONTROL IT MYSELF! Without Faith, God says ’Its impossible to please Me.’ God wants some folk who can Walk By Faith! There is Freedom and Liberty in breaking off from what other people determine for you. They can’t even take care of their own life, and they’re trying to care of yours. They can’t even get themselves to go where they ought to go, and they’re trying to tell you where to go - GET YOURSELF TOGETHER!
I want to meet some folk who know How To Live. Some folk who know how to Conquer and Overcome. And in order to do that, YOU’VE GOT TO SHAKE OFF DEMONS THAT DON’T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT!
You see, God is as much the Author of Science as He is of Salvation. So, He can By-Pass the Scientific Aspect. You can’t wait for Science when you’re Crazy! You need a Quick Move of God! Your Money can’t wait for Science; your Financial Condition can’t wait for some economic idea; you need God to step in and straighten your mess out! Your Body is too messed up to wait for the doctor; you need God to step in! Your Past is too complex to wait for a psychiatrist; you need God. I tell you, GOD CAN BY-PASS THE SCIENTIFIC ASPCT!
You see, if God is moving in your life, then somebody is not going to Understand it. I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to get people to understand your success, or to understand how you can come
from nothing to something, or to understand how you can make a jump. Even you don’t understand how you made the jump. You were over there yesterday and today you are here - YOU JUST JUMPED!
God picked you up on wings and set you somewhere else, and folk are still talking about it. Well, let them talk; YOU JUST KEEP ON JUMPING!!
And so, Psychology and Religion have always been part of this Intellectual Struggle. Some are caught between How do I feel about what God is doing by Faith, and how do I feel about the Rationale that happens by the Human Intellect? But really there is no comparison. I can bring all kinds of case histories of folk that were strung out yesterday, but released with just One Meeting With God.
How many times has my heart been broken until I read some remote Scripture and all of a sudden, life beganto flow thru my system?
How many times was I down and out, everybody walking about leaving me for dead, some folk planned by funeral,and all of a sudden something got hold of me in the inside,and up from the dead I rose?
How many times should you be Crazy because of what you’ve been thru? Yet what you’ve been thru made you better? It had to be God!
How many times have you been cut off just to be cut in? Man cut you off, God cut you in!
How many times have you been put out just to get you where God wanted you to be?
So, THE FIRST THING WE FIND WITH THIS FELLOW IS THAT
HE HAS A LOST OF SELF.
But you need to understand IN THE SECOND PLACE,
THAT HIS LOSS OF SELFHOOD WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE HAD BEEN DEMONIZED. And that’s the Metaphor that we’re looking at here, and that’s why He’s Separated From God.
I’m here to tell you that Our Greatest Fight is that Fight of Faith, which links us to God’s Spirit and our Sensual Connection to our Circumstance or Situation; and everybody here is caught between the Two. This fight is summed up in this: WHAT I BELIEVE AS OPPOSED TO WHAT I SEE.
Now you have to understand this, that If I’m going to live in this world connected to my senses or my flesh, then the World Stimulates My Thinking. And as long as the world stimulates my thinking, I am a Slave to their Concepts.
Its the people who find themselves, who are the people who can back away from the circumstances of the world long enough to see who they are. And the world is Afraid of people who Know WhoThey are. Because, right away, you become some challenge to them, because you have the audacity to Be Who You Are. They ask: ’How can you be who you are, when we are trying to make you what we want?’ Have you ever been in a realtionship where people try to reduce you to manage you? Wrong Realtionship, my friend; Wrong Relationship! Anytime you can’t be who you are in any relationship, You are in the Wrong Place.
But you know the thing I like about God is, that You can Be Crazy with God until He Gets Ready To Clothe You and Put You In Your Right Mind! You don’t have to act like you’re sane and somber when you’re crazy! Because He already looks thru your facade and see your spirit. That’s why church-folk will make you lie about who you are; and you end up having more hypocrites in church than true people. Why? Because I got to be a hypocrite to sit with you; but if you knew How Crazy I Was -! Touch someone and say: ’Quit lying about yourself.’
There’s still something He hasn’t gotten out of me yet - Quit Lying!
Oh yeah, if the right woman comes by, you’ll change your tune - you will Look!. If the right man comes by, you’ll quit shouting for a minute to take a look! If the right car comes by, you’ll close up your mouth to
take a look! Don’t you fool with me, I’ll tell it on you! Tell somebody, ’The Lord Is Still Working On Me.’
We must find ourselves for WE HAVE BEEN DEMONIZED!
Some of us are living on experiences that are long gone. And even though the circumstance has changed, I’m still living in the spirit of something that took place years ago. I can’t even shake it, because
I’ve Been Demonized. I have so much going on in me.
Can you imagine being pulled by 6,000 different things? Before I get thru this, this shows up. Before I can get over this, this pulls me. Before I can overcome this, this is drawing me. ’I have lost myself
because there are too many things visiting me that I have no control over. How can I live with so many voices? I want to be what Mamma wants. I want to be what Daddy wants. I want to be what my Wife wants. I want to be what my Husband wants. I want to be what my
Sweetheart wants. I want to be what my Job wants. I want to be what my Church wants. So here I am, coming from one face to another. I have so many faces that I no longer know who I am!
Well, what face are you today? ’Oh, this is my Church-Face, my Job-Face, my Work-Face, my Public-Face, my Private-Face. I got so many demons pulling me that I Don’t Even Know Who I Am!’
But here comes Jesus, who can look me in the face, and, one minute, I’m Crazy trying to destroy myself, but I rose to tell you that today, I’M CLOTHED AND IN MY RIGHT MIND. And I’m getting ready to tell the devil: ’You can have these demons back. I want to be who I am! I want my own seat in the house. I want
my own place in God. I’m tired of piggy-backing on your concept; I want my own testimony. I want my own Mind. I want my own Victory. And if you can’t get it for me, I’ll get it Myself!’
I want you to notice that as religious as the Gadarenes were, Their Religion Could Not Help Him. And if they could have helped him, he would have to be Controlled by them. Now folk will cure you if they can control you. They’ll tell you that you’re doing alright now, because you are under their control.
You see, that’s where Satan wants to take you. He separates you from God, so he separates you from yourself. Somebody’s blocking the light because the light is out there; and someone is between you and the light. The light is there but something is Demonizing You. Something is leaving you with thoughts you don’t need to have. So, because I got all these demons running around in me, I’m confused most of the time. Don’t know where I want to go. Don’t know Who I want to be.
Have you ever found yourself being pulled by folk into things you’re not sure you want to do? But you’re doing it because of a relationship with them, but that isn’t really what you want to do. You’re just doing it because they have exerted an influence over you that you can’t understand. And it leaves you self-destructive, because you’re the one running thru the mountains cutting yourself up over experiences that you don’t want to live with. And while you’re running among the tombs, they are making a spectacle of you. They are pointing at how mad you are!
Do you know how many of us have been ridiculed by those who made us Crazy? How many folk have talked about your anger when they are the ones who stimulated it? How many folk have put you down as a failure when they stood in your way every chance they got? How many folk have walked on you and then talked about you for being down? No wonder I’m going crazy, because the people I depend on are using me for their pleasure! And so I’m cutting myself up in the cave; but
thank God, in spite of Science, I Met Jesus! Thank God, in spite of what’s Normal, I met the Supernatural! Thank God, in spite of what I should be, I’m sitting here right now IN MY RIGHT MIND!
I’M GETTING READY TO BE WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE. AND
IF THE CITY DOESN’T LIKE IT, THAT’S THEIR BUSINESS. I
WANT WHAT’S MINE!
YOU’VE GOT A RIGHT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE UNDER THE ANOINTING OF GOD. How many times are you going to put it off? Its time to live now like God would have you live. Shake those demons off! Tell the Devil, ’Everything that’s mine, I’ve come to get!!!
You know when a person is Changed, because they can
Make Decisions for themselves. Tell someone: "I’ve decided that I’m going to Live. I’ve decided I’m shaking off this bondage.
I’ve decided I’m going to walk in the Anointing. I’ve decided I’m going to be Spiritual.’ You have the power to decide, because you know who you are in God. You got power to tell the Devil,
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! I’VE GOT MY MIND BACK!!!
You’ve got to understand that when he got his mind back, folk came out to look at him. Because Folk are Scared of You when there’s an Anointing in Your Life. You were everybody’s running buddy before the hand of God touched you and your purpose became visible. But when your Mind was Restored, your Running Buddies Ran Away from You.
Tell Evil Spirits to get out of your path. I’m Crazy if I think I can pull 6,000 Demons to my purpose. So the man spent all his time fighting. Who was he fighting? He was fighting himself, because the folk didn’t mean that much to him. Tell someone, "You can’t stop me. I was Crazy to think you can." No one can hold you back!
When your Mind Is Restored, YOU CAN LET GO WHAT HAS
HELD YOU!! WHEN I MET JESUS, HE GAVE ME THE POWER TO CUT IT LOOSE. SO, LOOK OUT, HERE I COME! I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING - FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, I REACH AND PRESS FOR THE MARK OF THE HIGH CALLING.
LOOK OUT, I’VE GOT MY MIND BACK!
I’VE GOT MY PURPOSE BACK!
I’VE GOT MY VISION BACK!
I’VE GOT MY FOCUS BACK!
I’VE GOT MY MIND BACK!
