Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of
doctor Jeff Swarzentrau, Senior Pastor of Brave Church in Denver, Colorado.
You're listening to Jeff Swarzentraue with Pastor Jeff Ministries.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Today.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Pastor Jeff continues this message Jesus Christ's unique ministry from
the series The Kingdom Invasion and looks at Mark one
to show you how Jesus entered into our world and
our struggles with purpose and power. Before we get started
with today's teaching, we invite you to check out Pastorjeff
dot com to find more resources to help you grow
in your walk. Now, let's hear from Pastor Jeff as
(00:40):
he brings us today's teaching from God's Word.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
When we hear the truth of God's Word, when the
Word of God is being proclaimed, when we read it,
when we study, when we meditate on it, oftentimes the
spirit of God wells up inside and says, you need
to take a step of faith there.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You need to trust me here, you need to.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Start doing this. You need to stop doing this, you
need to start doing this little bit differently. That's the
spirit of God inside of you directing your path.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And here's what we see in Jesus.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
The spirit of God casts him into the wilderness for
forty days and forty nine with wild beasts, and we
don't see Jesus saying I don't want to be with
the wild beasts and what kind of food is out there,
and what kind of shelters out there? And who's going
to protect me out there? And what's even the purpose
of going out there?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And I don't really understand.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And if you don't send me a sheet explaining to
me all the reasons that we're going to do this,
I don't know that I'm going to go. Maybe I'll
talk to my small group about it this week and
we can pray about it.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Now. When the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Prompts him, he goes because he doesn't need to know
all the reasons why. And the more that we mature
in our faith, there's this false misconception to think the
more mature I am, the more I'll understand why God
is doing what he's doing. What I find is God
still doesn't open our minds up to everything that he's
going to do. He's just saying, will you trust me?
Will you trust me? And he has a way of
(01:57):
speaking to all of us individually. He has a way
of doing to us corporately, saying, here's what I'm doing,
and I'm wondering.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Will you follow my lead? Right?
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And that's how he prepares us, little step by little step,
by little step by little step. And we always say
in this church, the hardest step of faith you will
ever take is what the next one? We never arrive
in our faith. And Jesus was modeling all the way
from here, all the.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Way to the Cross, through the resurrection.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
To reiscension, and even when he returns, it'll be at
his father's bidding to come and get us. He was
modeling how to be obedient, how to trust and obey.
That's who our God is.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Have you seen God stretch you for his purposes?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Are there some things His spirit has been prompting in
your heart, showing you here's a step of faith I'd
like you to take. Where it makes you a little uncomfortable,
or says I don't know that I'm the person for that,
I don't know that I'm.
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Ready for that. By God is saying, oh, yes you are,
because this is what I want you to do. And
if you take a step of faith.
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That's when we get to see God miraculously show up
in supernatural ways.
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Jesus was unique because of.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
His incarnation, his identifyification as preparation. And how about this
his invitation, his invitation. He invited men and women into
something that's different than what we think about oftentimes in church.
I was going to spend our whole time in these verses,
but notice them in verse fourteen. Now after John had
been taken into custody, So here his cousin is arrested.
Who's going to be beheaded for simply claiming that Jesus
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was God and was coming to rescue people from their sins.
When he was taken into custody. Jesus came into Galilee.
And what did he do preaching the gospel of God?
What is the gospel? Gospel literally means this good news
especial hands.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
How many need to hear a little more good news? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Don't turn on your TV. We need more good news.
Good news is good news. Good news is what thrills
your heart. Good news is where you can't contain it.
Good news is I have to share this. That's what
good news is. So Jesus came sharing the good news.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And what does he say?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
And he was saying, the time is fulfilled, and the
Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in
the gospel. So what's the kingdom of God? The Kingdom
of God is the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
And he was saying, now that I'm on the earth,
and now that I'm here, and now that your king
has arrived, my kingdom is being unleashed. My rule and
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reign is taking over. One day, Jesus is going to
rule and reign over everywhere on the earth and in
the universe.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
He's ruling and reigning from on high.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
But one day, when he disposes of sin, death from
the devil, then he's going to rule unparalleled. And he's
still ruling unparalleled, just not everybody's listening to him.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
He was saying, the Kingdom of God is at hand.
And then what does he say about this good news?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
He gives us two words. We don't like using one
of the two words, but Jesus uses them, so.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I'm cool with it. Repent and believe. Repent means to
turn from your sin. Believe means to trust me with
your life. Both are equally important. That's how you experience
the good news? Well, what's the good news. The good
news is that Jesus Christ is Lord and that you
can be part of his kingdom, that you can be
an influencer for him if you'll turn from your sin
for life and you'll turn to him.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And when's the kingdom in hand?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Right now? Because I'm here. That's what Jesus was telling
everybody during his earthly ministry. Now what's the kingdom today?
The kingdom today is still Jesus Christ's rule and his
still Jesus Christ's reign. And you can get in theological
debates about this all the time. There are some that
say the kingdom is only future, meaning when Jesus Christ comes,
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there'll be no more sickness, no more death, no more disease,
no more dying, no more demons, and when that happens.
Until that happens, there's really no kingdom. It's just that's
when the Kingdom's going to come, so just sit and
wait for it. Then there's other people that will say, no, no, no,
it's the realize king. Every single thing that Jesus did
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he'll do today. He heals, he delivers, he casts out
demons all the time, with everybody, no matter what. And
then there's a position that I take, which is more
of an already not yet position, which is this, I
believe that everything Jis began to do and teach, he's
still doing today, and that one day the full measure
of all that is going to come and take place.
That's what I believe, and I believe there's a tension
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that we can hold, and we'll.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Talk about that as we go through the text today.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
But make no mistake about it, whether you realize it
or not, because sometimes in Christian circles we'll say things
like I want him to be my savior.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I just don't know that I'm ready to have him
be my lord. Yet he is Lord, whether you want
him to be or not. He is Lord.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The question is how are you responding to him as lord?
Why do you call me lord?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Lord? And do not do what I say? Right? So
it's his invitation here that he's going to have. So
what does he do.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
He's not just telling people that I'm the king and
the kingdom has come and repent and believe, what does
he do Verse sixteen. As he was going along by
the Sea of Galley, he saw Simon and Andrew, the
brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea. For
they were fishermen, and Jus said to them, follow me,
and I will make you become fishers of men. Immediately
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they left their nets and followed him.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Going on a.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Little further, he saw James, the son of zebd and
John his brother, who are also in the boat mendy nuts.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Immediately he called to them, and they.
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Left their father's Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants,
and they went away to follow him.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
What's this invitation.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I don't see gas passing out gospel tracks saying here
you need to believe you're a sinner, asked me into
your heart. Oh you did great, have a good life.
That's not the invitation here, what's the invitation? He said,
follow me. I know you're fishermen, but I'll give you
a higher calling. I'll give you a mission you know
nothing about. I'll let you go fish for men. And
it's interesting because if you study the New Testament, you
(07:36):
would find that the disciples are not very good at
their trade, because in every chapter that it talks about
their fishing, they can't catch anything.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And so Jesus is talking to these young men. And
here's what he says. He says, Hey, you follow me.
I'll give you purpose in your life like you've never had.
I'll let you do what you think you're good at
in a way that you can really honor me. And
here's the truth. Everybody's looking for significance in life, and
everybody's looking for who to attach to and who to
become part of and all this stuff. And Jesus is like, hey,
come follow me, and I'll turn your life upside down.
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I will take you on an adventure. I will take
you on a journey. I will take you on a
mission unlike anything you've ever seen. Now here's the problem.
In religious circles. We think that call is for the
select few, the three percent, the one percent. They're called
to be missionaries. They're gonna take the Gospel into unreached
people groups. They're gonna do great things. We'll pray for them,
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we'll resource them, we'll give them money. The normal Christian
life is that you give everything you have to Christ
and you let him run every area of your life.
And you're a missionary no matter where you go, whether
you're in Denver, Colorado, or outside the walls of the
United states.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Everywhere you go, you're on mission for Jesus Christ.
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Why, because He's called you to a greater purpose than yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And we miss this.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
We miss this because we think disciple making is only
for the select few. And we miss this because we
think all that God cares about is getting us out
of Helen into heaven.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's part of what he cares about. But notice this, He's.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Not inviting them to get out of hell and go
to Heaven. He's inviting them to a whole different way
of doing life. He's inviting them all the way in,
just like he invited the rich young ruler all the
way in. Is there anybody you see in Jesus ministry
where he said, hey, just give me a little.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Bit, don't go all the way in with me.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
This is Pastor Jeff Ministries with doctor Jeff Swarzentrap and
today Pastor Jeff is sharing his message Jesus Christ's unique
ministry from the series The Kingdom Invasion, looking at Mark
one to show you how Jesus entered into our world
and our struggles with purpose and power. We'll get back
(09:41):
to Pastor Jeff in just a moment, but first, generous
listeners like you make programs like this one possible. And
when you give a gift in support of Pastor Jeff
Ministries today, we'll say thanks for a copy of Pastor
Jeff's battle Tested Wisdom, a ten day prayer journey for
real life decisions to help you learn to live by
God's wisdom, not your own understanding. To get your copy,
(10:01):
visit us at Pastorjeff dot com togive once again, that
website is Pastorjeff dot com. Now let's get back to
today's message for the conclusion of this teaching from God's Word.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And we miss this because we think all that God
cares about is getting us out of Helen into Heaven.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's part of what he cares about.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
But notice this, He's not inviting them to get out
of Helen go to Heaven. He's inviting them to a
whole different way of doing life. He's inviting them all
the way in, just like he invited the rich, young
ruler all the way in. Is there anybody you see
in Jesus ministry where he said, hey, just give me
a little bit, don't don't know, don't go all the
way in with me. I mean everybody he's talking to.
(10:42):
He wants full allegiance. He wants you all the way in.
And this is what he was doing here. He was
giving an invitation to say, if you really want to
come after me, what's he going to say later? You
must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.
Here's what Jesus was saying, Hey, you want to be
a follower of me, come die with me, give me everything,
Come die right now, and then let me lead your life.
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And you know, to live is Christ and to die
his game, because since you've already died with me, it
won't matter when you die anyway. And the quality of
life that you're looking for in your life is giving
your life fully to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no
greater return on investment. You can't tiptoe in with Jesus.
There has to be a time where you're like, okay,
you got me on, you got all of me. Was
telling a story earlier this week about when I went
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back to visit my university I graduated from and met
some people that were doing a different ministry, and I
asked him, how can we never talk to me? And
they said, well, you're part of another ministry. We didn't
try to recruit away and I said, I understand, and
he started telling me. I'm like, what is your ministry doing.
He's like, well, we gather students and we pray every
single summer about where we're going to live and where
God wants us to be and who God wants us
to share the gospel with. And I'm like, you pray
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about where you're going to live. I'm like, I pick
where I want to live because I want to live
in a nice apartment.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm like, why would you pray about that?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
And he goes and then we pray about who God's
going to lead in our past and how we're going
to set up disciple making.
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And I thought that's so radical.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Now I think that's so normal, Like why wouldn't you
pray about everything?
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Because when Jesus takes over your life.
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It doesn't matter whether we're talking about your finances, your singleness,
your marriage, your vocation, your advocation, your hobbies.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Your money, whatever.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
If it's all under the lordship of Jesus Christ, then
he's stewarding it all anyway.
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All you're doing is being obedient to how he wants
you to live.
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And there's incredible freedom in it because I find that
most North American Christians want to accept Jesus to get
out of hell, but then put them in a box
and leave him right here and say, Okay, my life's
really going to be difficult, but one day it's going
to be really good. It'll stink now, but at least
I got my life insurance policy. There's nowhere you'll read
that anywhere in the scriptures. Jesus wants to consume your life.
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As I've said many times, the Holy Spirit did not
come in your life to be resident.
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He came in to be president.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
He came in to take you over, right, And that's
what we see in Jesus.
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He is following the leading of the Lord. And what's
he doing. He's inviting people to follow him.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Let me tell you this is a big deal because
sometimes in church we'll look around and be like, oh,
we're big enough.
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We got enough people here.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And I'm telling you because I've been in our church
when it was twelve people, and I've been in our
church now that we're about five thousand people. Every single
stage that we're in, people will tell me, oh, we're big.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Enough, We're big enough. The only reason you.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Would say that is if you don't care about somebody's soul,
because if you realize that in our area there's two
million plus people, of which ninety percent of them are faith.
He's seeing a christless eternity, and God has put you
and I here to go tell them about the love
of Christ. How could we be too big? Not if
you care about souls. Now, if you're inviting people to
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follow Jesus. And the reason some of us have a
hard time inviting people to follow Jesus because we're not
following him either.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Just didn't say just trust me and go do what
you want.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
He said, follow me, do what I'm doing, Watch what
I'm saying, watch what I'm doing. Then you go say
the same thing and do the same thing that I'm doing.
That's what a disciple is. That's what Jesus was modeling.
It was an invitation to a journey that looks different
than just religion. It was his incarnation. It was as identification,
as preparation, as invitation. Let me give you another one.
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It was his proclamation. He spoke differently than other people spoke,
notice verse twenty one. Then they went into Capernaum, and
immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue, and he
began to teach, not surprising, that's what rabbis do.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But notice this.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
They were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching
as one having authority, and not as the scribes. The
scribes would read the scriptures and say, here's what God
is saying. What did Jesus do. Jesus was saying, here's
what I'm saying. Let me tell you who God is,
let me tell you how God thinks. He spoke with
complete authority. Even if we read the Sermon on the Mountain,
people were amazed because he spoke as one with authority.
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I don't have authority on my own. The only authority
I have comes under the lordship of Christ. To the
extent that I preached the word. The word has authority
to the extent that I to the extent I tell
stories or my opinions. I don't have authority. Where do
we get our authority under the lordship of Christ. Jesus
is authority. When we read the Word and we understand
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this is authoritative, we read it differently than if we think, oh,
it's a suggestion, or yeah, these are man made words,
or yeah, I'm just not sure this is true, or
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
No, that's not who Jesus is. Jesus taught with authority.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
He said, anyone who is ashamed of me and my words,
I'll be ashamed of when I come. It's everything the
Bible says. That's the authority that we have. It's truth
that we have. Jesus spoke with authority. Here's my question.
Do you live under his authority? Do you operate under
his authority? Jesus said in the Great Commission that all
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authority in heaven and on earth have been given to him.
Therefore go, So what was he doing at that point?
He was delegating his authority that he had to us
to go do everything that he was doing. Well, what's
he been doing so far? What's he been doing so far? Well,
he's been identifying himself with his dad. He's been preparing
himself to do everything that the spirit's telling him to do,
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going out and inviting other people to come with him
on the journey because he's not going to do it alone.
And now he's proclaiming the authority of the Word of God. Friends,
if you go to a church, it does not proclaim
the authority of the Word of God. If you ever
move somewhere and you can't go to brave, then leave
that church and go find a place that proclaims.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
The authority the word of God. It's so important.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
People can use different personalities to teach it, they can
use different ways to teach it, they can use different
means to teach it. But make sure that they believe
in the authority of Christ and that they're living under
the authority, and that they're telling.
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You this is what God says. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
How about another one number six? This is where people
begin to squirm in church. In the first service, I
had several people get up and leave at this point.
But this is a mark of jesus ministry. You'll see
it all over the Bible. And one of the ways
that makes him unique is his ministry of liberation.
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Liberation. Notice what he does.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
He goes and teaches, He preaches with authority, and in
verse twenty three it says this, just then there was
a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. Now
can you check that out for a minute. I mean,
this is a guy that's coming to the synagogue every
single week. People who went to the synagogue every single
week knew the Old Testament scriptures people that went to
the synagogue every single week, study the scriptures during the week.
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This guy is a religious guy who knows about God
and has been told about God.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
And what's going on in this guy's life.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
He's got an unclean spirit attached to him. And he
cried out, and this is not the man talking, but
the unclean spirit talking inside of him. What business do
we have with each other? Jesus of Nazareth, have you
come to destroy us? I know who you are, the
Holy One of God. And what does Jis do? Well,
here's what Jesus does. Just rebuked him, saying, be quiet
and come out of him, throw him into convulsions. The
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unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came
out of him.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And noticed this.
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They were amazed. So they debated among themselves, and now
they're going to have a discussion. They're not going to
celebrate the fact that this guy's been set free. They're
gonna have a theological debate, because that's what people do
in church.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
When God began to move.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
They were amazed and debated among themselves, saying, what is
this a new teaching with authority? He commands the unclean
spirits and they obey him, and immediately the news about
him spread everywhere into all the surrounding districts of Galilee.
Now this is so important that in the coming weeks
I'm gonna spend an entire week on this to talk
about this because I didn't have good teaching on this
growing up. Most of you don't have good teaching growing
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up on this, and we don't really talk about this.
We think that the good News of the Gospel is
just getting out of hell and getting into heaven. But
what do we see with Jesus. It's not just getting
people out of hell and getting into heaven. It's letting
them live and complete freedom before their Lord. It means this,
some of you in here have unclean spirits that are
attached to you know, let me be crystal clear.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
For those of you.
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Who are repented and believe the Holy Spirit and dwells
your life, he owns you.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You will go to heaven. You know you're going to heaven.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
But for some of you, due to trauma or unconfessed
habitual sin over a period of time, or a number
of other factors, have given the enemy of foothold in
your life, which is different than just having some sin
in your life thin. You can confess and forsake, you
can make good choices to get out of it. But
some of you, even as Christians, I find over the
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last thirty two years, that would say, I know I'm
born again, I know I've repented on my sin. I
know I believe, but there's this sin here in my life,
and no matter what I do, it never goes away.
And then they say stuff like this, but I know
one day when I die and go to Heaven, it'll
all be gone, Praise God. But my life's gonna stink
from now until the time I meet Jesus. I don't
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read that anywhere in the scriptures. I believe that Jesus
is authoritative over unclean spirits and demonic activity, even in
the life of a believer. And we get uncomfortable with that, Like, Jeff,
are you saying that Christians can be oppressed by demons?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
One hundred percent? I've watched it.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
With my own two eyes, and we're gonna spend some
time talking about that and what does that look like,
Because here's what happens. This man convulst a little bit.
Doesn't say how long he convulsed, but invulse, and then
he became clean. And what's the first immediate reaction of
the congregation theological debate?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Was that really a demon?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Is that really?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
This? Is this a new teaching? Can we do?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Why they're not even looking at the man who's been demonized,
who's now been set free.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
They're not celebrating this freedom.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
They're wondering how their religious systems all jacked up now
and how this man interrupted the service. You see that,
but don't miss this, because part of Jesus ministry is
liberating people from demonic activity, which is good news because
it means, no matter how deep you've gone into the darkness,
you can be completely free on this side of heaven.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
That good news.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
He's not just telling people to get ready for heaven.
He's demonstrating his rulership and authority over all areas. Then
notice the second one, verse twenty nine. So demons have
been cast out, And immediately after that they came out
of the synagogue, and they came into the house of
Simon and Andrew with James and John. So they go
to Peter's mother house and Simon, I'm sorry, Peter's mother
in law's house, and Simon's mother in law was lying
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sick with a fever, and immediately they spoke to Jesus
about her, and he came to her and he raised
her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever
left her and she waited on them. Now, in the
first century, if you were sick, you were sick, like,
where are you going to go? There's no NyQuil, there's
no tile in all, there's no antibiotics, there's no z packs,
there's no I mean, you're sick. Jesus walks in. See
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Simon's mother in law takes her by the hand, So
let's go. You can go ahead and wait on us.
Now we're a little bit hungry. And she goes and
make some food. What does Jesus have authority over sickness?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Sickness?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
So Jesus has authority for salvation, he has authority for
the demonic, he has authority for healing. Now this is
where people get a little frustrated, because they're like, well,
wait a second, I've been sick and just didn't heal me.
Or I prayed for my mother in law, I prayed
for my mom, or I prayed for my dad and
they died of sickness. And you know, I prayed for
somebody to be delivered, and they weren't delivered, so it
(22:00):
must not be true. Listen, if you ever prayed for
somebody to get saved that didn't get saved, doesn't make
it not true.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I pray for people to be healed. They've been completely healed.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I prayed for godly people to be healed, and they
weren't healed. To the glory of God. Why does God
choose to do what he does? I don't know, but
here's what I do know. Jesus Christ has authority over sickness.
He has authority over disease, he has authority over the devil,
and he has authority over your eternal salvation.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Amen, and a story.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Sometimes people don't get healed or set free because they
don't have enough faith. Other Times, people have enough faith
to believe that God can, and for some reason they
don't receive the healing that we think they should have.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
But here's what you know as a believer.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Because I know a lot of believers that have died
with cancer and have died in faith, and immediately the
moment that they died, they were completely healed. All I'm
saying is I believe God wants to do a lot
more on this side of heaven than we allow him
to do in his church. And the reason we don't
want him to is because we're more afraid of somebody
convulsing or having a weird experience in the church, and
we are.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Seeing him set free.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I'm just telling you, as your pastor, I want to
see people not only know Jesus.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I want to see people in love with Jesus, set
free by Jesus and say I love him ever more
than I've ever loved him before. Amen. That's the gospel.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
So let's move on to the next point, because you
love this if you like that one. And what makes
you a minister unique is repetition. So if you didn't
like that, you're going to see it all over again.
I mean, notice this in verses thirty two, thirty three,
and thirty four.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What happens.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
So he's now cast out demons or unclean spirits, He's
now healed Peter's mother in law. Now, what do you
see when evening came after the sun set, they begin
bringing to him all who were ill and who were
demon possessed. So words gotten out in the street that
he was in the synagogue and somebody had unclean spirit
was healed. Words got down on the street that Peter's
mother in law, they had been lying sick for a while,
(23:52):
is now healed.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So what's the town doing.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
They're bringing all their sick and all their ill and
all their unclean people would be people that are like,
we've been praying for this and nothing changes.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
We've been praying for this and nothing change. If Jez
can do something, we'll bring them and notice what happens.
And the whole city had gathered at the door.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Thanks for listening to Pastor Jeff ministries. That was Pastor
Jeff with his message Jesus Christ's Unique Ministry from the
series The Kingdom Invasion looking at Mark one to show
you how Jesus entered into our world and our struggles
with purpose and power. Before we say goodbye, we want
to remind you that when you give a gift to
keep teachings like this one going out to you and others,
(24:36):
we'll send you Pastor Jeff's battle tested Wisdom, a ten
day prayer journey for real life decisions to help you
lean on God's wisdom. Visit Pastorjeff dot com to give
that's Pastorjeff dot Com. And while you're there be sure
to sign up for email updates from Pastor Jeff Ministries
to be among the first to hear about new resources
to equip you in your walk. Thanks again for joining
(24:58):
us today.
Welcome to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of
doctor Jeff Swarzentrau, Senior Pastor of Brave Church in Denver, Colorado.
You're listening to Jeff Swarzentraue with Pastor Jeff Ministries.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Today.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Pastor Jeff continues this message Jesus Christ's unique ministry from
the series The Kingdom Invasion and looks at Mark one
to show you how Jesus entered into our world and
our struggles with purpose and power. Before we get started
with today's teaching, we invite you to check out Pastorjeff
dot com to find more resources to help you grow
in your walk. Now, let's hear from Pastor Jeff as
(00:40):
he brings us today's teaching from God's Word.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
When we hear the truth of God's Word, when the
Word of God is being proclaimed, when we read it,
when we study, when we meditate on it, oftentimes the
spirit of God wells up inside and says, you need
to take a step of faith there.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You need to trust me here, you need to.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Start doing this. You need to stop doing this, you
need to start doing this little bit differently. That's the
spirit of God inside of you directing your path.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And here's what we see in Jesus.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
The spirit of God casts him into the wilderness for
forty days and forty nine with wild beasts, and we
don't see Jesus saying I don't want to be with
the wild beasts and what kind of food is out there,
and what kind of shelters out there? And who's going
to protect me out there? And what's even the purpose
of going out there?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And I don't really understand.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And if you don't send me a sheet explaining to
me all the reasons that we're going to do this,
I don't know that I'm going to go. Maybe I'll
talk to my small group about it this week and
we can pray about it.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Now. When the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Prompts him, he goes because he doesn't need to know
all the reasons why. And the more that we mature
in our faith, there's this false misconception to think the
more mature I am, the more I'll understand why God
is doing what he's doing. What I find is God
still doesn't open our minds up to everything that he's
going to do. He's just saying, will you trust me?
Will you trust me? And he has a way of
(01:57):
speaking to all of us individually. He has a way
of doing to us corporately, saying, here's what I'm doing,
and I'm wondering.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Will you follow my lead? Right?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And that's how he prepares us, little step by little step,
by little step by little step. And we always say
in this church, the hardest step of faith you will
ever take is what the next one? We never arrive
in our faith. And Jesus was modeling all the way
from here, all the.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Way to the Cross, through the resurrection.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
To reiscension, and even when he returns, it'll be at
his father's bidding to come and get us. He was
modeling how to be obedient, how to trust and obey.
That's who our God is.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Have you seen God stretch you for his purposes?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Are there some things His spirit has been prompting in
your heart, showing you here's a step of faith I'd
like you to take. Where it makes you a little uncomfortable,
or says I don't know that I'm the person for that,
I don't know that I'm.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Ready for that. By God is saying, oh, yes you are,
because this is what I want you to do. And
if you take a step of faith.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
That's when we get to see God miraculously show up
in supernatural ways.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Jesus was unique because of.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
His incarnation, his identifyification as preparation. And how about this
his invitation, his invitation. He invited men and women into
something that's different than what we think about oftentimes in church.
I was going to spend our whole time in these verses,
but notice them in verse fourteen. Now after John had
been taken into custody, So here his cousin is arrested.
Who's going to be beheaded for simply claiming that Jesus
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was God and was coming to rescue people from their sins.
When he was taken into custody. Jesus came into Galilee.
And what did he do preaching the gospel of God?
What is the gospel? Gospel literally means this good news
especial hands.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
How many need to hear a little more good news? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Don't turn on your TV. We need more good news.
Good news is good news. Good news is what thrills
your heart. Good news is where you can't contain it.
Good news is I have to share this. That's what
good news is. So Jesus came sharing the good news.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And what does he say?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
And he was saying, the time is fulfilled, and the
Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in
the gospel. So what's the kingdom of God? The Kingdom
of God is the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
And he was saying, now that I'm on the earth,
and now that I'm here, and now that your king
has arrived, my kingdom is being unleashed. My rule and
(04:17):
reign is taking over. One day, Jesus is going to
rule and reign over everywhere on the earth and in
the universe.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
He's ruling and reigning from on high.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
But one day, when he disposes of sin, death from
the devil, then he's going to rule unparalleled. And he's
still ruling unparalleled, just not everybody's listening to him.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
He was saying, the Kingdom of God is at hand.
And then what does he say about this good news?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
He gives us two words. We don't like using one
of the two words, but Jesus uses them, so.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I'm cool with it. Repent and believe. Repent means to
turn from your sin. Believe means to trust me with
your life. Both are equally important. That's how you experience
the good news? Well, what's the good news. The good
news is that Jesus Christ is Lord and that you
can be part of his kingdom, that you can be
an influencer for him if you'll turn from your sin
for life and you'll turn to him.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And when's the kingdom in hand?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Right now? Because I'm here. That's what Jesus was telling
everybody during his earthly ministry. Now what's the kingdom today?
The kingdom today is still Jesus Christ's rule and his
still Jesus Christ's reign. And you can get in theological
debates about this all the time. There are some that
say the kingdom is only future, meaning when Jesus Christ comes,
(05:23):
there'll be no more sickness, no more death, no more disease,
no more dying, no more demons, and when that happens.
Until that happens, there's really no kingdom. It's just that's
when the Kingdom's going to come, so just sit and
wait for it. Then there's other people that will say, no, no, no,
it's the realize king. Every single thing that Jesus did
(05:43):
he'll do today. He heals, he delivers, he casts out
demons all the time, with everybody, no matter what. And
then there's a position that I take, which is more
of an already not yet position, which is this, I
believe that everything Jis began to do and teach, he's
still doing today, and that one day the full measure
of all that is going to come and take place.
That's what I believe, and I believe there's a tension
(06:05):
that we can hold, and we'll.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Talk about that as we go through the text today.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
But make no mistake about it, whether you realize it
or not, because sometimes in Christian circles we'll say things
like I want him to be my savior.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I just don't know that I'm ready to have him
be my lord. Yet he is Lord, whether you want
him to be or not. He is Lord.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
The question is how are you responding to him as lord?
Why do you call me lord?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Lord? And do not do what I say? Right? So
it's his invitation here that he's going to have. So
what does he do.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
He's not just telling people that I'm the king and
the kingdom has come and repent and believe, what does
he do Verse sixteen. As he was going along by
the Sea of Galley, he saw Simon and Andrew, the
brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea. For
they were fishermen, and Jus said to them, follow me,
and I will make you become fishers of men. Immediately
(06:54):
they left their nets and followed him.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Going on a.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Little further, he saw James, the son of zebd and
John his brother, who are also in the boat mendy nuts.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Immediately he called to them, and they.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Left their father's Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants,
and they went away to follow him.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
What's this invitation.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I don't see gas passing out gospel tracks saying here
you need to believe you're a sinner, asked me into
your heart. Oh you did great, have a good life.
That's not the invitation here, what's the invitation? He said,
follow me. I know you're fishermen, but I'll give you
a higher calling. I'll give you a mission you know
nothing about. I'll let you go fish for men. And
it's interesting because if you study the New Testament, you
(07:36):
would find that the disciples are not very good at
their trade, because in every chapter that it talks about
their fishing, they can't catch anything.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And so Jesus is talking to these young men. And
here's what he says. He says, Hey, you follow me.
I'll give you purpose in your life like you've never had.
I'll let you do what you think you're good at
in a way that you can really honor me. And
here's the truth. Everybody's looking for significance in life, and
everybody's looking for who to attach to and who to
become part of and all this stuff. And Jesus is like, hey,
come follow me, and I'll turn your life upside down.
(08:07):
I will take you on an adventure. I will take
you on a journey. I will take you on a
mission unlike anything you've ever seen. Now here's the problem.
In religious circles. We think that call is for the
select few, the three percent, the one percent. They're called
to be missionaries. They're gonna take the Gospel into unreached
people groups. They're gonna do great things. We'll pray for them,
(08:28):
we'll resource them, we'll give them money. The normal Christian
life is that you give everything you have to Christ
and you let him run every area of your life.
And you're a missionary no matter where you go, whether
you're in Denver, Colorado, or outside the walls of the
United states.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Everywhere you go, you're on mission for Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Why, because He's called you to a greater purpose than yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And we miss this.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
We miss this because we think disciple making is only
for the select few. And we miss this because we
think all that God cares about is getting us out
of Helen into heaven.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's part of what he cares about. But notice this, He's.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Not inviting them to get out of hell and go
to Heaven. He's inviting them to a whole different way
of doing life. He's inviting them all the way in,
just like he invited the rich young ruler all the
way in. Is there anybody you see in Jesus ministry
where he said, hey, just give me a little.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Bit, don't go all the way in with me.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
This is Pastor Jeff Ministries with doctor Jeff Swarzentrap and
today Pastor Jeff is sharing his message Jesus Christ's unique
ministry from the series The Kingdom Invasion, looking at Mark
one to show you how Jesus entered into our world
and our struggles with purpose and power. We'll get back
(09:41):
to Pastor Jeff in just a moment, but first, generous
listeners like you make programs like this one possible. And
when you give a gift in support of Pastor Jeff
Ministries today, we'll say thanks for a copy of Pastor
Jeff's battle Tested Wisdom, a ten day prayer journey for
real life decisions to help you learn to live by
God's wisdom, not your own understanding. To get your copy,
(10:01):
visit us at Pastorjeff dot com togive once again, that
website is Pastorjeff dot com. Now let's get back to
today's message for the conclusion of this teaching from God's Word.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And we miss this because we think all that God
cares about is getting us out of Helen into Heaven.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's part of what he cares about.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
But notice this, He's not inviting them to get out
of Helen go to Heaven. He's inviting them to a
whole different way of doing life. He's inviting them all
the way in, just like he invited the rich, young
ruler all the way in. Is there anybody you see
in Jesus ministry where he said, hey, just give me
a little bit, don't don't know, don't go all the
way in with me. I mean everybody he's talking to.
(10:42):
He wants full allegiance. He wants you all the way in.
And this is what he was doing here. He was
giving an invitation to say, if you really want to
come after me, what's he going to say later? You
must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.
Here's what Jesus was saying, Hey, you want to be
a follower of me, come die with me, give me everything,
Come die right now, and then let me lead your life.
(11:04):
And you know, to live is Christ and to die
his game, because since you've already died with me, it
won't matter when you die anyway. And the quality of
life that you're looking for in your life is giving
your life fully to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no
greater return on investment. You can't tiptoe in with Jesus.
There has to be a time where you're like, okay,
you got me on, you got all of me. Was
telling a story earlier this week about when I went
(11:26):
back to visit my university I graduated from and met
some people that were doing a different ministry, and I
asked him, how can we never talk to me? And
they said, well, you're part of another ministry. We didn't
try to recruit away and I said, I understand, and
he started telling me. I'm like, what is your ministry doing.
He's like, well, we gather students and we pray every
single summer about where we're going to live and where
God wants us to be and who God wants us
to share the gospel with. And I'm like, you pray
(11:47):
about where you're going to live. I'm like, I pick
where I want to live because I want to live
in a nice apartment.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I'm like, why would you pray about that?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
And he goes and then we pray about who God's
going to lead in our past and how we're going
to set up disciple making.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And I thought that's so radical.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Now I think that's so normal, Like why wouldn't you
pray about everything?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Because when Jesus takes over your life.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It doesn't matter whether we're talking about your finances, your singleness,
your marriage, your vocation, your advocation, your hobbies.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Your money, whatever.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
If it's all under the lordship of Jesus Christ, then
he's stewarding it all anyway.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
All you're doing is being obedient to how he wants
you to live.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And there's incredible freedom in it because I find that
most North American Christians want to accept Jesus to get
out of hell, but then put them in a box
and leave him right here and say, Okay, my life's
really going to be difficult, but one day it's going
to be really good. It'll stink now, but at least
I got my life insurance policy. There's nowhere you'll read
that anywhere in the scriptures. Jesus wants to consume your life.
(12:43):
As I've said many times, the Holy Spirit did not
come in your life to be resident.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
He came in to be president.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
He came in to take you over, right, And that's
what we see in Jesus.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
He is following the leading of the Lord. And what's
he doing. He's inviting people to follow him.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Let me tell you this is a big deal because
sometimes in church we'll look around and be like, oh,
we're big enough.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
We got enough people here.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And I'm telling you because I've been in our church
when it was twelve people, and I've been in our
church now that we're about five thousand people. Every single
stage that we're in, people will tell me, oh, we're big.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Enough, We're big enough. The only reason you.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Would say that is if you don't care about somebody's soul,
because if you realize that in our area there's two
million plus people, of which ninety percent of them are faith.
He's seeing a christless eternity, and God has put you
and I here to go tell them about the love
of Christ. How could we be too big? Not if
you care about souls. Now, if you're inviting people to
(13:38):
follow Jesus. And the reason some of us have a
hard time inviting people to follow Jesus because we're not
following him either.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Just didn't say just trust me and go do what
you want.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
He said, follow me, do what I'm doing, Watch what
I'm saying, watch what I'm doing. Then you go say
the same thing and do the same thing that I'm doing.
That's what a disciple is. That's what Jesus was modeling.
It was an invitation to a journey that looks different
than just religion. It was his incarnation. It was as identification,
as preparation, as invitation. Let me give you another one.
(14:08):
It was his proclamation. He spoke differently than other people spoke,
notice verse twenty one. Then they went into Capernaum, and
immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue, and he
began to teach, not surprising, that's what rabbis do.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But notice this.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
They were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching
as one having authority, and not as the scribes. The
scribes would read the scriptures and say, here's what God
is saying. What did Jesus do. Jesus was saying, here's
what I'm saying. Let me tell you who God is,
let me tell you how God thinks. He spoke with
complete authority. Even if we read the Sermon on the Mountain,
people were amazed because he spoke as one with authority.
(14:45):
I don't have authority on my own. The only authority
I have comes under the lordship of Christ. To the
extent that I preached the word. The word has authority
to the extent that I to the extent I tell
stories or my opinions. I don't have authority. Where do
we get our authority under the lordship of Christ. Jesus
is authority. When we read the Word and we understand
(15:06):
this is authoritative, we read it differently than if we think, oh,
it's a suggestion, or yeah, these are man made words,
or yeah, I'm just not sure this is true, or
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
No, that's not who Jesus is. Jesus taught with authority.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
He said, anyone who is ashamed of me and my words,
I'll be ashamed of when I come. It's everything the
Bible says. That's the authority that we have. It's truth
that we have. Jesus spoke with authority. Here's my question.
Do you live under his authority? Do you operate under
his authority? Jesus said in the Great Commission that all
(15:38):
authority in heaven and on earth have been given to him.
Therefore go, So what was he doing at that point?
He was delegating his authority that he had to us
to go do everything that he was doing. Well, what's
he been doing so far? What's he been doing so far? Well,
he's been identifying himself with his dad. He's been preparing
himself to do everything that the spirit's telling him to do,
(16:00):
going out and inviting other people to come with him
on the journey because he's not going to do it alone.
And now he's proclaiming the authority of the Word of God. Friends,
if you go to a church, it does not proclaim
the authority of the Word of God. If you ever
move somewhere and you can't go to brave, then leave
that church and go find a place that proclaims.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
The authority the word of God. It's so important.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
People can use different personalities to teach it, they can
use different ways to teach it, they can use different
means to teach it. But make sure that they believe
in the authority of Christ and that they're living under
the authority, and that they're telling.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You this is what God says. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
How about another one number six? This is where people
begin to squirm in church. In the first service, I
had several people get up and leave at this point.
But this is a mark of jesus ministry. You'll see
it all over the Bible. And one of the ways
that makes him unique is his ministry of liberation.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Liberation. Notice what he does.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
He goes and teaches, He preaches with authority, and in
verse twenty three it says this, just then there was
a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. Now
can you check that out for a minute. I mean,
this is a guy that's coming to the synagogue every
single week. People who went to the synagogue every single
week knew the Old Testament scriptures people that went to
the synagogue every single week, study the scriptures during the week.
(17:15):
This guy is a religious guy who knows about God
and has been told about God.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
And what's going on in this guy's life.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
He's got an unclean spirit attached to him. And he
cried out, and this is not the man talking, but
the unclean spirit talking inside of him. What business do
we have with each other? Jesus of Nazareth, have you
come to destroy us? I know who you are, the
Holy One of God. And what does Jis do? Well,
here's what Jesus does. Just rebuked him, saying, be quiet
and come out of him, throw him into convulsions. The
(17:44):
unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came
out of him.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And noticed this.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
They were amazed. So they debated among themselves, and now
they're going to have a discussion. They're not going to
celebrate the fact that this guy's been set free. They're
gonna have a theological debate, because that's what people do
in church.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
When God began to move.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
They were amazed and debated among themselves, saying, what is
this a new teaching with authority? He commands the unclean
spirits and they obey him, and immediately the news about
him spread everywhere into all the surrounding districts of Galilee.
Now this is so important that in the coming weeks
I'm gonna spend an entire week on this to talk
about this because I didn't have good teaching on this
growing up. Most of you don't have good teaching growing
(18:22):
up on this, and we don't really talk about this.
We think that the good News of the Gospel is
just getting out of hell and getting into heaven. But
what do we see with Jesus. It's not just getting
people out of hell and getting into heaven. It's letting
them live and complete freedom before their Lord. It means this,
some of you in here have unclean spirits that are
attached to you know, let me be crystal clear.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
For those of you.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Who are repented and believe the Holy Spirit and dwells
your life, he owns you.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You will go to heaven. You know you're going to heaven.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
But for some of you, due to trauma or unconfessed
habitual sin over a period of time, or a number
of other factors, have given the enemy of foothold in
your life, which is different than just having some sin
in your life thin. You can confess and forsake, you
can make good choices to get out of it. But
some of you, even as Christians, I find over the
(19:13):
last thirty two years, that would say, I know I'm
born again, I know I've repented on my sin. I
know I believe, but there's this sin here in my life,
and no matter what I do, it never goes away.
And then they say stuff like this, but I know
one day when I die and go to Heaven, it'll
all be gone, Praise God. But my life's gonna stink
from now until the time I meet Jesus. I don't
(19:34):
read that anywhere in the scriptures. I believe that Jesus
is authoritative over unclean spirits and demonic activity, even in
the life of a believer. And we get uncomfortable with that, Like, Jeff,
are you saying that Christians can be oppressed by demons?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
One hundred percent? I've watched it.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
With my own two eyes, and we're gonna spend some
time talking about that and what does that look like,
Because here's what happens. This man convulst a little bit.
Doesn't say how long he convulsed, but invulse, and then
he became clean. And what's the first immediate reaction of
the congregation theological debate?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Was that really a demon?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Is that really?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
This? Is this a new teaching? Can we do?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Why they're not even looking at the man who's been demonized,
who's now been set free.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
They're not celebrating this freedom.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
They're wondering how their religious systems all jacked up now
and how this man interrupted the service. You see that,
but don't miss this, because part of Jesus ministry is
liberating people from demonic activity, which is good news because
it means, no matter how deep you've gone into the darkness,
you can be completely free on this side of heaven.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
That good news.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
He's not just telling people to get ready for heaven.
He's demonstrating his rulership and authority over all areas. Then
notice the second one, verse twenty nine. So demons have
been cast out, And immediately after that they came out
of the synagogue, and they came into the house of
Simon and Andrew with James and John. So they go
to Peter's mother house and Simon, I'm sorry, Peter's mother
in law's house, and Simon's mother in law was lying
(21:05):
sick with a fever, and immediately they spoke to Jesus
about her, and he came to her and he raised
her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever
left her and she waited on them. Now, in the
first century, if you were sick, you were sick, like,
where are you going to go? There's no NyQuil, there's
no tile in all, there's no antibiotics, there's no z packs,
there's no I mean, you're sick. Jesus walks in. See
(21:27):
Simon's mother in law takes her by the hand, So
let's go. You can go ahead and wait on us.
Now we're a little bit hungry. And she goes and
make some food. What does Jesus have authority over sickness?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Sickness?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
So Jesus has authority for salvation, he has authority for
the demonic, he has authority for healing. Now this is
where people get a little frustrated, because they're like, well,
wait a second, I've been sick and just didn't heal me.
Or I prayed for my mother in law, I prayed
for my mom, or I prayed for my dad and
they died of sickness. And you know, I prayed for
somebody to be delivered, and they weren't delivered, so it
(22:00):
must not be true. Listen, if you ever prayed for
somebody to get saved that didn't get saved, doesn't make
it not true.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I pray for people to be healed. They've been completely healed.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I prayed for godly people to be healed, and they
weren't healed. To the glory of God. Why does God
choose to do what he does? I don't know, but
here's what I do know. Jesus Christ has authority over sickness.
He has authority over disease, he has authority over the devil,
and he has authority over your eternal salvation.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Amen, and a story.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Sometimes people don't get healed or set free because they
don't have enough faith. Other Times, people have enough faith
to believe that God can, and for some reason they
don't receive the healing that we think they should have.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
But here's what you know as a believer.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Because I know a lot of believers that have died
with cancer and have died in faith, and immediately the
moment that they died, they were completely healed. All I'm
saying is I believe God wants to do a lot
more on this side of heaven than we allow him
to do in his church. And the reason we don't
want him to is because we're more afraid of somebody
convulsing or having a weird experience in the church, and
we are.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Seeing him set free.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I'm just telling you, as your pastor, I want to
see people not only know Jesus.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I want to see people in love with Jesus, set
free by Jesus and say I love him ever more
than I've ever loved him before. Amen. That's the gospel.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
So let's move on to the next point, because you
love this if you like that one. And what makes
you a minister unique is repetition. So if you didn't
like that, you're going to see it all over again.
I mean, notice this in verses thirty two, thirty three,
and thirty four.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What happens.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
So he's now cast out demons or unclean spirits, He's
now healed Peter's mother in law. Now, what do you
see when evening came after the sun set, they begin
bringing to him all who were ill and who were
demon possessed. So words gotten out in the street that
he was in the synagogue and somebody had unclean spirit
was healed. Words got down on the street that Peter's
mother in law, they had been lying sick for a while,
(23:52):
is now healed.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So what's the town doing.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
They're bringing all their sick and all their ill and
all their unclean people would be people that are like,
we've been praying for this and nothing changes.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
We've been praying for this and nothing change. If Jez
can do something, we'll bring them and notice what happens.
And the whole city had gathered at the door.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Thanks for listening to Pastor Jeff ministries. That was Pastor
Jeff with his message Jesus Christ's Unique Ministry from the
series The Kingdom Invasion looking at Mark one to show
you how Jesus entered into our world and our struggles
with purpose and power. Before we say goodbye, we want
to remind you that when you give a gift to
keep teachings like this one going out to you and others,
(24:36):
we'll send you Pastor Jeff's battle tested Wisdom, a ten
day prayer journey for real life decisions to help you
lean on God's wisdom. Visit Pastorjeff dot com to give
that's Pastorjeff dot Com. And while you're there be sure
to sign up for email updates from Pastor Jeff Ministries
to be among the first to hear about new resources
to equip you in your walk. Thanks again for joining
(24:58):
us today.
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