Bringing Light to the Darkness: The Johnson Family’s Mission in Spain

Brother Johnson, and he had video and.

Then he'll be preaching to us tonight.

Well, thank you guys for having us and thank you, Pastor, for giving us the opportunity.

We were certainly excited whenever we were able to be able to come here.

And so I think at this time, I'll probably just have the video played and then I'll come up and say a few more things and then we'll get into the message.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Imagine a place where there is one way to go and it is the wrong way.

And imagine a place where there is no other option.

Imagine being in a location where there is virtually no witness of the true and living God.

Such is the nation of Spain.

Millions upon millions of people are in utter darkness in this country.

Europe used to be at one point the leader in world missions, but now most of the people are either Catholic or atheistic.

A coldness to the gospel floats over the area like a disease.

The Nathaniel Johnson family is determined to give the people of Spain a chance to hear the gospel.

Hi, we are the Johnson family, sent out of Arden Road Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas.

My lovely wife, Millie, is a daughter of Pastor Erin Denson.

From a young age, I have felt the calling of missions in my life.

I surrendered to that calling at the age of 12, and I have endeavored to heed that calling through the taking of mission trips and by going to Heartland Baptist Bible College to prepare for ministry.

Millie felt that call to missions during a mission trip in Spain at the young age of 5 15.

Spain is a beautiful and historic country located in the southwestern portion of Europe.

Spain's capital is Madrid, and the country has several other cities as well, with populations of a million or more.

Spain at one point was really a leader of the world.

During the age of discovery, Spain led the exploration of the new World.

Today, Spain is part of the European Union.

Spain's politics involve a king as well as a prime minister, and it is considered a democracy.

Despite some relative freedom, there remains deep in the hearts of millions of Spaniards, the need of something other than the dead bones of Catholicism.

Although many in Spain may not admit this, the influence of atheism as well as a sort of mushing together of other religions is beginning to grow.

About 61% of Spaniards claim Catholicism as their religion, while 35% adhere to no religion at all.

Only 4% would claim to be for another religion.

And of that 4%, only 1.6% are evangelical Christians.

Despite its beauty and history, Spain is without a clear gospel witness.

It is a nation starving to death.

Spiritually.

The city the Johnsons are praying about reaching is Valencia, a metropolis of two and a half million people on the eastern coast of Spain facing the Mediterranean.

Despite being a prospering city with world class hotels, large museums and a myriad of things to do for tourists, the one thing Valencia lacks is is an independent Baptist church in the urban area.

The Johnsons want to help correct this as the Lord provides and directs.

The Johnsons will be traveling to Madrid to begin training under a veteran missionary.

We will be working with and training under the veteran missionary Jack and Joy Loveday family.

We will be helping there in the original church plant in the heart of Madrid.

And we feel very burdened for saturating churches in the inner city.

Our goals are to help in the church, enroll in language school and help in the camp ministry.

Their camp ministry is most of the summer and has over 80 kids and teens from throughout the country every week.

It is a great opportunity to minister and to meet other missionaries in the country.

We also helped to help another missionary in the country start a brand new church in Leon, Spain during the tail end of our internship.

We then hope to return to the States and raise ministry funds.

And then after that we hope to return to Spain to start churches of.

Our own like Valencia.

There are cities all over Spain in desperate need of just an opportunity to be told of the deception of the Catholic Church and of the freedom found in Jesus Christ by God's grace.

Nathaniel and Millie Johnson want to meet this need.

Here is what you can do.

We ask you to pray for us as we endeavor to reach Spain with the Gospel and for the glory of God.

Many die in heathen lands.

Many dine next door.

Millions die who never heard the love of Christ before.

They need someone to tell them that he died to take their place.

They need someone to tell them of his mercy.

Love in grace.

Lord, take my heart.

I place it in your hands.

Lord, break my heart if that's what's in your plan.

Whatever you have to do to take full control Lord, give me your heart for souls.

Whatever you have to do to take full control Lord, give me your heart O for soul.

I made that while I was still in college and so there's a few updates.

We are planning on leaving towards the beginning of April or the end of April actually.

We're just waiting on our visas.

We're working on that right now.

I think it's working now.

Sorry about that.

But as I was saying, so we are planning leaving towards the end of April.

And if you just pray for us about our visas, you probably understand some of the bureaucracy and things that go in there.

And so we've got everything turned in.

Into Spain now.

We have to turn in some things to the Houston consulate and just wait for that to be approved.

And so we are looking for an apartment and things like that.

The missionaries we'll be working with, they've been there for 43 years, so I think that's a testament to their faithfulness.

And they started several churches and they run the camp ministry there.

And the camp ministry, it's every other week.

And they literally bring in all these teenagers and kids on the train system, and they bus them out there from there, and they have them there and they preach to them and they learn about the word of God.

And many of the preachers that are taking over and starting churches that are nationals have gone up and grown up in that camp.

And so we're really excited about.

I think this is dying.

I can just use this.

I can just use this.

Be perfect.

Sorry about that.

And so if you would just pray for the camp ministry.

And then also if you would just, you know, people ask us a lot of times, you know, well, what can we pray for you specifically about?

And of course, visa needs, financial needs, things like that.

But really, I think that if you come across our prayer card or you think of us, we want you to pray for the people of Spain, because me and my wife know where we're going to spend eternity, but the people of Spain do not.

And if I.

If I could put it this way, they're really living and dying without ever encountering the truth.

The city we're planning on getting to, after we serve and learn the language, we will come back, have a few more meetings, renew our visas, and then we'll move everything down to Valencia.

And you're talking about two and a half million people and not a single independent Baptist missionary in the city.

And we do.

We found out about one church that we believe is preaching the gospel, but outside of that, we don't know of anyone.

And so they need someone to go and tell.

And if you think of it this way, if you go out in Fort Worth area or in really most places in the United States, and you invite people to church, right?

You give them a gospel tract and you say, hey, will you come to church with me?

One of their first questions is, well, what kind of church do you go to?

Right.

Often I find that to be anyways.

And it's because we, as Americans, we're accustomed to choosing, we're accustomed to different things and we understand that.

But over there, the only choice really is Catholicism.

And so if you go there and you hand someone a tractor, you invite them to church, they don't.

They assume that the church you're talking about with Catholicism and outside of that, it's really atheism.

And so we just want to give these people an opportunity.

And you say, well, what's wrong with that?

Well, the Catholic Church there and widespread, they teach work, salvation there, it's very sacrament based.

And so they're all about, you know, you go into a church, you see people paying to have prayers made up for them and you see people paying to have literally holy water sprinkled on them as if that's going to change their life.

But the only thing that's really going to change their lives is the person of Jesus Christ.

And they believe in a person of Jesus, but they don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible because the Jesus of the Bible provides salvation once and for all.

It's not something that we do.

We accept him one time and then we're saved, right?

And I mean, thank the Lord for eternal security.

It's such a blessing.

And they don't have that.

They live in fear.

Even the most diligent Catholic you will find if you ask them, dead to their face, they say, do you know that you'll spend an eternity in heaven?

They would say, well, how could we know?

How could we know?

And that's sad to me.

And so we just want to go and show them what the Bible says and see what the Lord's going to do about that.

And so we're excited to be with you guys and we're excited to share a little bit about what's going on.

It's a little bit of, I know it's a bummer it's Super Bowl Sunday, right?

But last I checked, I don't think the Dallas Cowboys are playing in it.

So we should be perfectly fine and not a problem at all.

I told him earlier, I said, I'm going to have to keep looking back here and seeing if they're playing on the TV behind me.

And so if I see all the eyes back there, I know what's going on.

But no, I honestly, it's funny.

I was talking to the missionary we'll be working with, I think it was yesterday or maybe Friday, and he was telling me, he's like, yeah, it's great over here.

The super bowl is not until midnight.

And so, you know, you get done with all your services and then you watch the Super Bowl.

And I was like, well, that's neat.

But honestly, I hate both teams.

And so if they could both lose, that would be great.

So we'll just hope for that, right?

And then we're going to have a great service.

So if you turn your Bibles to Mark, Chapter five.

Mark, Chapter five.

And while you're turning there, I want to share with you a quick poem.

This doesn't necessarily have much to do with my sermon, but I think it helps us maybe catch a glimpse of the need for missions, right?

And what's going on maybe in the world.

And I look around and I see a church that, you know, you've got flags up and you've got.

You've got missionary prayer letters and a church that loves missions, no doubt, and a church that understands what missions is about.

And so I think you'll maybe understand and resonate a little bit with this poem.

And it's called the Disappearing Missionaries.

And we see it in Spain, but really we see it around the world and even in the United States.

But it goes like this.

Ten potential missionaries heard God's call divine One didn't count the cost and then there were nine Nine eager missionaries burdened about the world's fate One was convinced you're too old and then there were eight Eight studying missionaries learned to preach of heaven mom and dad said, not with my grandkids and then there were seven.

Seven sincere missionaries headed for the sticks One couldn't raise his support and then there were six.

Six anxious missionaries eager to arrive One got discouraged waiting on his visa and then there were five.

Five idealist missionaries landed on foreign shores One suffered culture shock and then there were four.

Four determined missionaries Busy as they could be One couldn't keep his marriage together and then there were three Three weary missionaries trying not to be blue One didn't return from furlough and then there were two.

Two seasoned missionaries Praising God for what he's done One was called to glory and now there's only one One age missionary thanked the Lord for him his eyes fixed on Jesus he hasn't let the vision dim One lonely missionary his days of remaining shrink so few who will go and help him?

Who will go will you?

And it's very true in Spain and Europe and really across the world.

And, you know, we try to keep in contact with the love days.

And they said that often they're the sponsor.

You have to have a sponsor if you get a religious visa in the country.

And so a lot of missionaries come to them seeking sponsorship, not necessarily to even work with them, but just to get their paperwork approved to get into the country.

And they said that they really stopped counting about 35 missionaries who have come and gone.

And I'm not saying that all the reasoning is bad there.

Obviously, the Lord moves people.

I understand that.

But I will say that there's a lot of people that don't stick with it.

And I think the Lord definitely is happy when we're faithful to what he calls us to do.

And the people of Spain need some people that'll go and just be faithful.

And, you know, our heart really is any church we're in.

We want to just burden people about the need of world missions and to burden young people to say that, you know, there needs to be another generation that rises up.

We haven't seen a lot of missionaries our age that are on deputation.

We've really ran only into maybe two that are about our age that are looking to go.

And there's a lot of older missionaries that are coming off the field, and they need some new people to go and to try to fill in those shoes and to do what the Lord wants in their lives.

And so I'd like to encourage you in that way.

But Mark, chapter five.

Mark, chapter five.

And I won't be long tonight, obviously, so you can go watch the ball game, I guess, but I am going to take the time.

We're going to be looking at 20 verses, and I don't know what you're willing and accustomed to doing, but if you would please stand for the honor and the reading of God's word, I will go ahead and read the verses.

I think it's important that we get a sense of what's going on.

But I will read super fast if you listen super fast, and we'll be on our way.

And let's start in verse one.

And they came over into 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 combines 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.

And.

But when he saw Jesus afar Off he ran and worshiped him and cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus?

Thou son of the Most High God?

I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.

For he said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

And he said, what is thy name?

And he answered, saying, my name is Legion, for we are many.

And besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

And all the devils besought him, saying, send us into the swine that we may enter into them.

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.

And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine.

And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea.

They were about 2,000 and were choked in the sea.

And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country.

And they went out to see what it was that was done.

And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the Legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind.

And they were afraid.

And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine.

And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with them, howbeit Jesus suffered him not.

But saith unto him, go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and have had compassion on thee.

And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him and all men did marvel.

You may be seated.

Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

Thank for the opportunity to come into your house, Lord.

I just ask that you would allow your word to speak to us, Lord, and allow us to be sensitive to your spirit, because we know you want to speak, Lord, and you want to move.

Lord, I ask that you be with all the missionaries around the world that are either having or have had services today.

And I just ask that you would bless them and just be with all the missionaries that this dear church supports, Lord, and just be with the city of Hazlett, Lord, and the greater Fort Worth area, Lord.

I just ask that this church would be a wonderful light to the community, Lord, and just help us all to do your part, your work, Lord, and just thank you for who you Are thank you for this day in Jesus name.

Amen.

And so, before we get into the message today, I would like to ask you all a question.

And it's probably mostly for the gentlemen, if I were to assume.

But how many of you would honestly say that you frequently lose things?

Like, frequently.

I would say that I frequently lose things.

That would be my testimony.

I would say that I frequently lose my wallet, probably most of all.

And yeah, I'm notorious for it.

And I will lose trackers.

You know, I've tried.

I've tried the apple thingies, the airtags or whatever you call it.

And the other one, I've tried them and usually, honestly, they don't even make it into my wallet before I've lost the packaging.

And if they do make it into my wallet, then I'll just lose my phone and I can't track it.

And so it's really a bad habit and it's a bad thing.

And so one of two things usually happens when something gets handed to me.

I will either A, hand it to my wife or B, I will lose it.

So those are the two options, pretty much.

And so maybe some of you resonate a little bit in that way.

And, you know, people misplace things, right?

If you had asked me in college, where I spent most of my time, I would love to say the library, because I was studious like that.

But honestly, it would have been lost and found.

That's the truth.

That's where I spent most of my time.

But people lose things, right?

But how about this?

If we take it a step further, how many of you would say that people sometimes misplaced priorities?

It happens, right?

If you had asked me when I was a kid, what would you rather, a frozen pizza or a steak dinner, I probably would have said a frozen pizza, because how many homeschoolers in here would say, man, that's like peak lunch.

Okay, am I the only one?

I guess so, anyways.

But that was peak lunch for me.

And so, you know, but to me, that would be a little bit of sense of a misplaced value.

You know, obviously we know the steak's worth more, but if we take that out and we look at our society and it's not necessarily the message, but I'm trying to get us to a point, and we look out and we see people that, let's say, they value comfort over character, right?

Or even, for instance, you know, there will be a lot of people that won't go to church on Sunday night because of a football game.

And I think that would be that they're valuing maybe entertainment over church.

And I'm not faulting anybody.

We all do that, right?

We misplace values.

But I would say this.

I would say that often if we look around in our own lives and in the lives of us, it's pretty important that we don't misplace where our relationship with Christ is, right?

And I think a lot of people today have walked away from a relationship with God because they have misplaced values, which really have just turned into misplaced priorities.

And me keeping track of my stuff is probably honestly a lost cause, right?

But keeping track of a relationship with Christ is not.

And so in this passage, if I could title it, and I usually don't, but I usually title it the Maniac Missionary, right?

This is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible.

And we see, you'll see in the passage, I mean, this guy, he's a maniac, right?

And later on, Jesus makes him and turns him into a missionary.

And we see other things.

We see, you know, a bunch of pigs that run into a water.

There's a lot of neat things going on here.

But I think what we see a lot of is some people with misplaced priorities.

And I think that will make sense soon.

And first of all, you know, we have to realize that God's power trumps overall, right?

And we see that.

And this passage also reminds us of who we are without Christ.

And lastly, I believe it leaves us with some positive and negative examples.

And I like examples.

And I think this passage is one where we can look at and use it to kind of compare our own lives and see what we really prioritize.

And so just for some background on the passage, we know that right before Mark chapter five is Mark, chapter four, right?

And what happens in Mark, chapter four?

Well, there's some parables at the beginning of the chapter, right?

There's a parable of the sower and the seed being spread out on different grounds, right?

And then there's the parable of the mustard seed.

We know that the faith of the mustard seed.

And then what happens is Jesus, ultimately, he purposes to go on to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is about 13 miles long and 7 miles wide.

So almost like a lake, like a large lake, if you think of it that way.

And he takes some of the disciples.

And, you know, a lot of these disciples are master fishermen, right?

They know how to operate a boat, many of them.

And yet they get on the water here.

And we know that there's A pretty bad storm.

And they're even worried about their life, right?

And so here they are, they're on this water and it's a pretty bad storm.

Usually it would take about two hours to get across if the day was clear and it was nice out.

But because of the weather, it could have taken anywhere from four to eight hours.

And so we're talking most of the night endeavor here to get across.

And remember, they go and get Jesus and he literally says, peace, be still, right to the storm.

And I think an important part that we know here is how do the disciples respond?

What do they say?

They say, what manner of man is this, right?

And I think Jesus here is showing what manner of man he truly is.

And all this time he's giving these parables about faith, really, and then he kind of shows faith in action.

And he's kind of trying to illustrate what faith is and what faith looks like in the disciples lives and of course, in the Lord's life.

And so that brings us to verse one.

And here they are.

They crossed the sea, right?

And it's been, you know, we only drove about five hours here from Amarillo, Texas.

But you know, even after that, you're wore out, you're tired.

And so they know that doubt they're tired, right?

They probably stopped at, you know, 711 to get the last Red Bull or whatever on their way or whatever.

But anyways, they get on the dock, right?

They get out.

And we know that immediately this man comes and meets them.

And what do we know about this man?

Well, we know he's not clothed properly.

We know he has cuts all over him.

And I lived in Oklahoma City for four years.

And I can tell you this, when someone comes over me looking like this and they're running at me, my instinct is not to just stay there, right?

Like I'm back in the car.

And so I could just imagine if we do.

And we have to remember these are real life events, these are real things that happened.

And so here the disciples are here, they're probably a little worn out.

You know, Jesus was a man too, so he might be a little worn out, a little tired.

And they're here and this man's running at him.

And I could just imagine Peter saying, you know, Jesus, we can just get back in the boat.

The water's fine now.

We can go back to the other side.

This is getting weird, right?

But no, but Jesus had purpose to come here.

And here this man is pictured and they had been binding him with fetters.

They had been chaining him, right?

And you might say, well, what does that mean?

Or why are they doing that?

Well, well, I think if we could apply it to today.

They're trying to meet this man's spiritual needs with physical solutions.

This man had a spiritual problem.

I mean, he's possessed with devils.

He has a sin problem.

I mean, we have to remember this is a real guy.

I mean, he had a real family.

And he's in a desperate way, right?

And in a desperate situation.

And we look at today and all around, people around us are trying to meet their spiritual problems with physical solutions.

We see it in Catholicism.

We see it in people looking at money, at entertainment, at drugs, at alcohol, at works, all these things, trying to appease their conscience or trying to distract themselves from the fact that we all have a sin problem.

And here this story is set up to understand just how difficult the situation was.

I mean, you put yourself in this man's shoes.

I mean, he needed help, right?

He's a man with no hope, no direction, no future.

And here Jesus comes and he meets this man.

I find it, the wording in this passage is amazing.

He meets this man's spiritual problem with a spiritual solution, right?

He doesn't bind him with fetters.

He doesn't chain him or handcuff him.

No, he casts out the devils and really he saves this man's life.

And, you know, he had been in the caves hollering and screaming all night and through the night.

And I find it amazing even, and this is a side note, but I find it amazing that even the devils understood who Jesus was, that they confess that he's the son of God.

And I find it kind of convicting in my own life that we look at the disciples.

These are followers of Jesus, right?

And they're flawed, they're humans.

And yet they're asking themselves, what manner of man is this?

And in some ways, the devils understood better than they did who Jesus was.

Now, obviously, they didn't trust him or anything like that, but the disciples are learning, what manner of man is this?

They're with Jesus while all this is happening.

They see this conversation happening.

They see what's going on, and they're learning who Jesus is and what he's about.

And, you know, Jesus had more power than that of calming a storm.

He had the power of the saving of a soul.

And, you know, we all have head knowledges of Christ's power, but do we truly trust Christ?

And I just imagine, and I don't want to be critical, I find it convicting in My life, if I think of it this way, if I were to put a sign up sheet in the back and I said, who would like to go back in time and watch Jesus calm a storm?

Who wouldn't want to do that?

I think we would have a line from here to there signing up for that, right?

And you're a Baptist church, you understand volunteer sheets and sign up sheets, right?

But at the same time, if I put a sign up sheet and this is for me, I need this.

If I put a sign up sheet for there that said, who wants to go soul winning this Saturday?

I would say less people would sign up and you would say, well, what's the connection there?

Well, I understand that today Jesus might not calm a storm per se.

He could, I mean he has the power to, but he is still doing the greatest miracle that he ever did and that's the saving of a soul.

And yet we become so distracted and we become so caught up in the physical things of life, really, like, just like these people that were trying to meet this man's needs with physical solutions, we get caught up with the physical things of life and we forget that God still wants to change the lives in the community around us.

And you know, God can save the most hopeless in our society.

And God wants to use you to tell your family and your friends and your co workers about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I find it amazing here that, you know, it's the saddest part of the story.

You see this great miracle happen, you're excited, you're fired up about what the Lord's doing, right?

And then in verse 14 through 17, you know what we see?

The people of Gadara segregate themselves from God.

Why?

Because they prioritize the physical over the spiritual.

And you say, well, what do you mean, what's going on here?

Well, the people come, they come to see what's going on.

They see this man clothed and in his right mind, right?

And they come here and I don't think, I don't think from the reading of the passage, and I can't say definitively, but if you look at it at the end of verse 14, and they went out to see what it was that was done and they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed of the devil and had the legion sitting and clothed in his right mind.

And they were afraid.

So yeah, the word afraid here, it carries the sense that they're in awe, they're in shock, they're amazed, right?

They're amazed by what's happening.

And I Don't see right there that they have a big problem with the fact that this man was healed.

But if you look in verse 16, it says, and they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil.

And also concerning the swine.

And then look in verse 17 right after it talks about the swine.

And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

And so, you know, here they are, they come to find Jesus.

They see this man healed.

And maybe they say this, well, I'm glad that the Lord's doing a work here.

And then the people that saw what happened, they say, well, yeah, but at what price?

At what expense?

And then all of a sudden the people say, wait, this is gonna cost me something.

I don't know about this Jesus.

And you see what's happening here and we see it in our own lives.

And they come down here and they're more concerned that they lost swine than they are gladdened that this man's spiritual needs were met.

And they're more content to live with sin and swine than they are to live with the person who has to offer life and joy and peace.

And if we look at our own lives, I understand many of you are saved and we're saved individuals.

But how often do we rather.

How often do we, rather than being driven to God for what he has to offer, we drive ourselves away from God for what we feel like we have to sacrifice.

We do it all the time.

We do it all the time in our lives.

And could it be that we value the swine in our lives more than that of the saving of a soul?

And I think there's a lot of application that can be drawn there.

And I don't know many of you very well at all, but I just think that so quick we.

We are to say, you know, we'll go to church and we want to see Jesus do a work and we'll even pray a prayer for the missionary and we'll pray a prayer for our neighbor and we'll pray a prayer for our co worker.

But the second the Lord says, hey, it's going to cost you some time to go witness to your neighbor, or it's going to cost you some time to go witness to your co worker, or it's going to cost you a little money to go give to the missionary, the minute it costs us something, how quick are we to say, well, I don't know about that, and we wouldn't say it outwardly, but in the way we act and the way we withhold, we allow these things into our lives, these physical things in our life.

And I find it amazing.

It's no sin to own swine.

Like, from what I understand, it's not that it was this great sin that they were the pig farmers.

No, I think, you know, if you look at the passage, I wonder, why did Jesus let those devils go into this wine?

He didn't have to grant them permission to do that.

And so I just wonder if maybe he allowed them to do it to expose these people's hearts.

And I think sometimes God allows these things into our lives to really expose our hearts and to show us that what we are doing is we're having misplaced values that have led to misplaced priorities in our life.

And I wonder what would happen if Jesus walked through those back doors and said, I want to do a great work with your church, and I want to do a great work in this city, and I want to do a great work around the world through this church.

But it's going to cost you something.

How would we react?

And I'm not saying it costs the same for everybody.

For us, it's going to cost us moving across the world so that we can give these people an opportunity to hear the gospel.

It costs everybody differently, but it costs something.

And so often we're not willing to pay the price.

And we'll say, you know, I'm fine with Jesus to be here, but I don't want him messing with my life.

And that's really the way we live sometimes.

And so the question I have for you today is, what is more valuable to you?

The physical needs in your life or the spiritual needs in the lives around us?

Because if we go out into the world and, you know, so often we'll see somebody that's sick, or we see somebody with a physical need, or we'll see, you know, in Spain, they don't have a lot of physical needs.

Financially, they're usually fine, but they have a lot of spiritual need.

And sometimes we're so quick to see the physical first, and we forget that every often everybody we're walking by, they have a heart within them.

And they might look fine on the outward, but they have a heart within them that is darkened by sin.

And they need a Savior.

And so, you know, I find the sad part about it is often, you know, God will let you have the wrong priorities.

He might send consequences into your life.

But you know what the real problem is?

You'll be left with a heart for swine and not for souls.

And I don't know about you, but I don't want that to be said of my life.

And it can be so easy to look at the world and to say, well, there's no hope.

And you know, even in Spain there's really a battle going on between the Catholics and some of this liberal socialism that's coming up.

And there's.

I don't know if you follow the news, but there's a lot of things going on there and it can be easy to look at that man say, wow, there's really no hope in that situation.

But really we have a hope within us and it's the furtherance of the gospel and God wants to use us to further the gospel.

And so my question is, what do you have in your life that wedges you from fervently proclaiming what God has given you?

And you know, an encouragement and a question that often has come that said, you might say, well, I just had too many people say no, I've had too many slam the door in my face.

But if you look at this passage, if people were saying no to Jesus, they're going to say no to us.

And they turned Jesus away.

And if you look at verse 17, I find it amazing, the wording here.

And they began to pray him to depart out of the coast.

Verse 18.

And when he was coming to his ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that he might be with him.

Him.

You notice the difference there?

Here this whole town is, they want him gone.

And yet this man who's just been healed, he comes to Jesus and he says, I just want to be with you.

And he departed.

He prayed to go with him.

And look what Jesus says.

Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, go home to thy friends and tell him how great things the Lord hath done for thee and have had compassion on thee.

And you know, sometimes I think we tend to over complicate things in our mind and what has God really asked of us?

And I think really it's like this man.

You know, sometimes there's times in our life where we just, we really want to be with Jesus.

We just wish we could get raptured out of here, right?

But really Jesus has left us here with a purpose.

And what is that?

Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and have had compassion on thee.

And it starts there.

And you know, I think it's great you learn the doctrines of the Bible and all these things, but really what you need to do is as you go out there and you tell people about the great things the Lord hath done for thee.

And sure, they might have some questions that you might always have an answer to.

And we should.

We should study our Bible and we should be able to prepare to answer these questions.

But at the same time, the Lord just asks you to start by simply going and telling.

You know, it's not even that you have to be a missionary.

Notice the group that he sent this man to go home to thy friends.

You know, you have friends and probably family members that are out there and on their way to a devil's hell.

And we say we believe in that, and yet we act as if we don't because we do so little and we're so unwilling to go out of our way to do anything for the cause of Christ.

Often, and in some ways we might submit to the Lord, but often there's things in our life that we just don't give up to Him.

And if I could put it this way, how silly would it be if this maniac, if you will, if he had gone to.

If he had gone back up into the caves and he said, jesus, you know, I know you healed me.

I know that you saved me.

I know that you cast out these devils, but I'm just going to stay up here.

I'm going to keep screaming and hollering, and I'm going to keep living the exact way I did.

That would be pretty silly, right?

That would not be smart, I don't think.

But yet sometimes, and I know maybe not in the same extreme way, God will save us, and yet we act the exact same way.

And I think sometimes that is a reason that keeps us from being able to proclaim the gospel.

Because we go into work and we act the same way everybody else does, and we talk the same way they do, and we listen to the same things they do and we watch the same stuff they do, and we just try to blend in.

And then maybe you get a conversation about church and you say, oh, yeah, I go to church, but you don't look any different than them and I don't look any different than them.

And why would they want what we have if we don't have the joy of the Lord, if we're not trying to be like Christ?

And Pastor talked about walking in his steps and being like Christ?

And I think that is really a key to being able to be a witness.

And, you know, the world needs people who see people before they see things.

And we're so quick to just see the physical.

And, you know, why would we go back to that which God has freed us from?

God has freed us from so many things.

And especially for young people, they just.

They just want to go and experience the world.

But God's freed you from that.

Why would you do that?

Why not serve him?

Because there's a world out there who needs you.

And so my favorite part of this story is if.

And I won't have you turn there for sake of time.

But if you were to look at this passage parallel in Luke, and you were to look to see what would happen, from what I understand, the research I have done, this region which they call Decapolis, it's these 10 cities, right?

Gadara would have been one of them.

And so it's these 10 cities on this side of the Sea of Galilee.

And later on in Luke, Jesus comes back, and this is the same place where Jairus daughter is healed.

And it's also the same place where, if we remember right, the woman is literally on her hands and her knees just touches the hem of his garment.

Why?

Because there's so many people around him.

And I just wonder, you know, if you look in verse 20 and he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel, you know what they see?

They see a man who's genuinely changed, genuinely impassioned about the things of the Lord.

And he takes his mission seriously.

He takes what the Lord has left him to do seriously.

And he goes and he tells people about the great things that Jesus have done.

And people realize, what manner of man is this?

He's the Son of God.

He came to die for our sins, and they want to hear him.

And so they come and then they gather around Jesus and they learn of him.

And you know, just like the parable in chapter four, we have no idea.

We have no idea who's all going to accept in Spain, but we just want to go and tell the great things that the Lord have done.

And that's what the Lord wants you to do.

And yet we have so many hookups.

And I think a lot of our excuses really just stem from the fact that we prioritize the physical over the spiritual.

Because we say, well, what will they think?

Or, I don't know that I have time for that.

Or, I don't know that I have the money for that.

And yet God wants to do a great work through you in this church to see the Gospel furthered.

And we all have a part in it.

And, you know, we can witness the changing of a life.

Isn't that amazing?

We can see the transformative power of God in the people around us.

And if I could end with this, I'm just gonna end with a quick testimony.

And I just want it to be about the Lord and what he did.

But I was probably about 14, 15 years old, and the Lord, you know, really, I want you to genuinely ask yourself, when's the last time you told somebody about the Lord?

Like, think back.

If we're having a hard time remembering when we even brought up the name of Jesus to somebody who is a stranger or somebody that we know needs him, I think that's probably a problem.

And so, you know, the Lord had burdened my heart.

You know, I wasn't telling people about Jesus like I should be.

And so I was probably 14 or 15.

I really felt like the Lord wanted me to be able to see someone saved, right?

And so I took a mission trip to Belize.

And you think of Belize as an island nation, right?

Beautiful, but really a lot of poverty, a lot of physical need, but also a lot of spiritual need.

And so we were there, and we drive up, we get dropped off, and we're on this dirt road, and there's this house.

And so we go up to it, and it's this little shanty, if you will.

It's like basically pallets and a tarp on the top, right?

And we go.

And there's not even really a door, but this little young man comes out, and he's probably about 10 years old, maybe nine.

And his name was Jaden.

And I said, hey, Jaden, would you like to come to church with us?

They spoke English there and everything.

So he said, yeah, sure.

And so he came Thursday night, and he came Saturday for our youth rally.

And then he came Sunday morning for our special.

We were doing a kids program and, of course, a main service as well.

And so we did the kids program.

They did a salvation message.

And he raised his hand that he wanted to accept the Lord, but he didn't go forward.

You know, he was nervous.

And so I went up to Jay and I said, hey, would you like to, you know, accept the Lord?

He said, I would.

So I took him through another Romans road.

I had a little pocket New Testament.

And he accepted the Lord right there.

And I was so glad by that.

But the thing that will always stick with me, it's not just that the Lord answered my prayer requests and, if you will, gave me the opportunity to do what I believed he wanted me to do.

And that's what he'll do.

He'll equip us.

If he puts something on your heart, he's going to help you to accomplish it.

And it wasn't just that.

It was what happened right after.

I had been getting Jaden fruit snacks, or not fruit snacks, like gummy bears from Albanese, like, all week.

And he didn't know how to chew them, so he would just swallow them because he had never had, you know, they were poor, they didn't have candy like that.

And so he was just swallowing them.

And I said, hey, Jayden, would you like my.

It was really my last packet.

I said, would you like my last packet of gummy bears?

And you know what he said to me?

It'll stick with me forever.

He said, brother Nate, why would I need gummy bears when.

When I have Jesus?

And you know what really immediately convicted me in the way that I live is so often I tell the Lord, in the way that I'm living, I say, why would I need Jesus when I have?

And I don't think it's gummy bears, but I think that all of us, from the young people in this room to the elder, you know, we have these things in our life that we're basically telling the Lord, why do I need you?

I have this.

And you know what?

We're left with a heart for the swine and not for souls.

Thank you, Pastor.