Introduction
Appreciation for Brother David for managing the video.Gratitude for the Wednesday night message and how it spoke to Pastor Tommy on Thursday evening.Prayer request for the message to touch hearts.Acknowledging that some may assume everyone is ready, but God knows each person’s soul.Personal testimony of getting saved unexpectedly.Encouragement to obey God and trust Him as Lord and Savior.Reminder of the inevitability of death and the importance of being ready to meet God.Reference to Brother Bobby’s scripture reading.Mark 5:1-6
Reading of Mark 5:1-6, the story of Legion.“They came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.”“And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.”“Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains.”“Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.”“And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.”“But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him.”Prayer for the word to bring conviction and faith to unbelievers.Appreciation for the personal aspect of the brother’s Wednesday sermon.The Holy Spirit touched Pastor Tommy’s heart concerning the tombs.Are You Dwelling in the Tombs?
Question posed: “Are you dwelling in the tombs?”Even saved individuals can have a propensity to return to the tombs (dead stuff, dark places).There is no peace, comfort, or fellowship in the tombs.The world is lost in dark places.A tomb is a place without light.Born-again individuals have received the light of Jesus Christ and should not dwell among the tombs.Tombs are full of people bound with fetters and chains, unable to free themselves.True freedom comes through being born again.Three Things About the Tombs
No LightTombs are dark, signaling that they are not a place for God’s people.Jesus crossed the sea specifically for Legion.Personal testimony of Jesus showing up for Pastor Tommy and saving him.No LifeThe world is full of dead places.Before salvation, individuals are dead in their sins and trespasses.The tombs will give up their dead (those who are dead to Christ).Salvation is necessary to escape the tomb.No WarmthAnalogy of an old cave near Big Cully: turning off the flashlight reveals a coldness that sinks into the skin.Spiritual places can be cold to God, lacking light and life.The tombs of this world are real, and one can get stuck in them.Coming Out of the Tombs
Legion saw Jesus coming.The Holy Ghost can do what humans cannot.One must see Jesus coming and admit to being in the tomb, unable to break free from bondage.God can save individuals today, just as He saved Legion and Pastor Tommy.When the Holy Ghost comes, it is unmistakable.To be saved, one must turn from sin, darkness, deadness, and coldness.Legion came out of the tomb.Giving up worldly things is worth it when compared to what God gives.One can drink from God’s fountain, which is superior to anything in the tombs.Legion’s Transformation
Legion went to meet God.The devils possessing him were named Legion, inhabiting 2,000 swine.The devils feared Christ and knew who He was.Legion fell before Jesus.Legion’s dwelling place was among the tombs, a choice to live in darkness.People of God have light and life, which can make those in darkness uncomfortable.People live in darkness because their deeds are evil, and light exposes their evilness.Lost people often avoid church because the light exposes their evil.Believers are the light of Christ wherever they go.Life in the Tombs
Legion was always in the mountains and tombs, living among corpses and foul odors.Analogy of whitewashed sepulchers: clean on the outside but full of dead men’s bones inside.Legion was in misery and torment, cutting himself with stones.Lost people may put on a facade of happiness, but their souls are not well if they are not right with God.There is a propensity to navigate toward the tombs of this world, where there is no life or warmth.Jesus can change that.Legion was a patchwork of scars from self-mutilation.Salvation and Transformation
Pastor Tommy came out of the tombs and into the light.Jesus cast out the devils from Legion, who then sat clothed and in his right mind at the feet of Jesus.People of God do not return to the tombs.The things once loved are now hated.If one still loves the things of the tombs, they have not been born again.Legion likely hated the light and ventured out of the tombs at night.Pastor Tommy remembers crying out and seeing his sin, depravity, and lostness, recognizing the tombs as his home.God heard and saved him.If one has been born again, their love for the tombs will end.Victory Over Death and the Tomb
Reference to 1 Corinthians 15:55: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”Jesus defeated death and the tomb through His death and resurrection.The tomb is a place absent of the light, life, and warmth of God.Some may be cold and indifferent toward God, submerged in the darkness of the tombs.The devil seeks to keep out the light that will expose souls to truth and rescue them.A day is coming when darkness will consume all unbelievers.The tomb is a burial place, a grave, a sepulcher, referred to as Hades or hell.If one’s confidence is not in Christ, they may still be in the tomb.If Jesus has come to the shore of one’s tomb, He intends to set them free.The darkness experienced now is but a shadow of the darkness to come for unbelievers.Legion was freed from the darkness of the tomb.Jesus told Legion to go back to his city and tell them what He had done for him.When one gets out of the tombs, they tell others that they were once lost but now are found.Call to Action
Invitation to those who know they are not in the light of Jesus Christ to repent and be saved.Come out from among the tombs and be saved today.The things once loved are now hated, and the things once hated are now loved.Examine yourselves.Warning to those who die without God that they will perish in an awful place.Come out of those places, come out of the tomb.Closing Remarks
There is a difference when one comes into the light of Christ and is saved.One will not dwell in the same place as before.The message serves as a warning and offers the good news of the gospel.It is not God’s will that any perish.
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