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• Matthew 8:28-33
• As always- interesting story- (Explain story)
• It’s no different today- whole cities of people reject Jesus every day. Seattle police chief recently rescinded an invite from a National Christian organization because they were ‘filled with hate’ 
• Leave- we don’t want you here Jesus-. It’s happening more often. Schools, TV, Movies, workplaces, they don’t want Christians there. We’re labeled. We’re ostracized. Not invited. 
• We look at them and we say “how could they beg Jesus to depart”? And we may not say it without mouths- but many of us beg Jesus to depart from us every single day. 
• Why did they beg him to depart?

1. They begged him because demons had become the norm

• READ v 28-29
• Demon possession is real – Job 2:2the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
• in this town- its clear that the people had gotten used to the demons and just avoided them
• It says “exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.”
• To me- that says- you know, we know that there is a place in the city that is overcome with demons- but we’re not going to go there and do some spiritual warfare and fix it- we’re just going to go around it. 
• Eph 4:27 nor give place to the devil.- and these people had given place to the devil. 
• Forwhatever reason- they thought it better to just avoid the problem instead of facing the problem
• To them- just let the demons demon- let them have their way- we’ll just learn to live with them
• visit this old lady when I was kid- house had cockroaches- she’d name them- better to clean?
• So in part- when these people come to Jesus at the edge of the city and beg him to leave- its because Jesus had upset their norm. what they were used to- how they did business
• Its like when an addict gets clean and goes back to the house- they house knew how to deal with addiction- don’t know how to deal with healthy- it can create problems. 
• So they beg him- Just leave Jesus- we didn’t want you to deal with this possession- we didn’t ask you to fix our issues- just leave- we liked our pet demons- Maybe it created a distraction so they wouldn’t have to deal with their own issues- liked having issues to blame their problems on? Who knows
• What does it mean to you
• Are you begging Jesus to leave because you like your demons? Have you let them take up residence and now they are so much a part of the family you’re naming them like cockroaches?
• Matthew 12:43-45 READ when the unclean spirit has gone out of person
• Demons are real- possession and oppression – if you don’t deal with it- it just comes back
• But people think they can play with this withcraft and it wont bother them- that everything ok
• You can’t camp in Sodom and expect that you wont come out smelling like smoke- 
• 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
• ever had a kid go spend the night with a bad kid and come back with their spirit on them?
• You got to cast that thing out- you cant let that spirit take up with your kid- thinking its ok
• they accustomed to the demon possession and had adjusted their lives to avoid it
• What you should do when it comes to demons? Put on the whole armor of God. Get prayed up
• Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the [a]wiles of the devil.
• Demon possession is real folks. Everything isn’t a demon, but there are principalities involved in this world that you have to be aware of. If you don’t you can find yourself in a bad place
• You must James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
• Submit to God- put up a fight- pray over yourself, your family, your house, where you go- 
• Watch what you watch, who you associate with, and what you take part in- 
• 2 Cor 2:11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
• The bible says that Satan blinds people, tempts people, tries to influence people, disguises himself as a an angel of light but people act all ignorant like it wont happen to them- 
• years ago- someone in this church started doing martial arts- divorced- ran away with leader

They begged him because their hearts were revealed

• suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea,  
• If they were jewish- they shoudn’t have been keeping swine If they were gentile- Jesus wants them to know that they are swine and that Jesus has control over it- Some say the swine was used for idolatry 
• Mark 5 says there were 2000 pigs. At 100 a head that’s 200k- lots of money- and these guys were UPSET that Jesus had used their swine to get rid of these demons
• Lets go back- they had avoided this place where the demons were- and for whatever reason- they saw more value in keeping their pigs than losing and seeing people delivered and set free
• They should have valued people more than money- more than their livelihood
• Ellicott- Those who measure rightly the worth of a human spirit thus restored to itself, to its fellow-men, and to God, will not think that the destruction of brute life was too dear a price to pay for its restoration
• Lets let this scripture mean what it appears to mean- these guys loved the value of pigs(money) more than people. 
• Isaiah 56:11 Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds
• Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory.
• These guys didn’t care about the demon possessed- they cared about their own gain- they cared about themselves- their money. 
• Proverbs 1:19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.
• Do you know what should have happened? These guys should have rejoiced that these demon possessed people were set free- that lives were changed- that Jesus was glorified- that good was happening
• Nope- Jesus- leave our town and take your healing powers with you. We would have preferred to keep our money. We value it more than these people and your power. 
• Sidenote- Jesus didn’t apologize for taking someones livelihood for the Gospel-
• Proverbs 28:20-22 READ
• What does it mean to you
• Where you at with your love of the things of this world? I know- been talking about this- top of mind for me- probably because I loved some things of this world that were revealed in 2020
• 1 John 2:15-17 READ Do not love the world or the things in the world. 
• didn’t realize how much I liked going to coffee, food, sports, events, etc. really did. Lots of Joy
• But at what expense? My prayer at the beginning was “God do this as long as you need to” but that quickly changed into “has this been long enough Lord, I’d like to do all you can eat sushi” 
• Loving the things of this world is a slippery slope. It is. When you love the things of this world you start making decisions that don’t honor God and you can find yourself in disrepair. 
• 1 Timothy 6:9- 10 READ
• Desire to be rich, temptation,snare, foolish, harmful, destruction, STRAYED FROM THE FAITH
• We should, you should, I should be very very careful to allow anything that would allow me to even remotely pull me away from the faith- anything. Demonstratively demanding of our allegiances
• Its possible- you’ve seen it- we’ve seen it- valuing our stuff, money, time more than God. 
• 2 Timothy 4:10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.
• Matthew 13:22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
• That’s what happens when you love your pigs more than people. You start looking at your tithe as a barrier to vacations and stuff. Getting mad at God for what you don’t have and what you cant do
• If one of the only thing the tithe does is break me of my love of money its done it job
• God could have said for us to gather together and watch it be thrown in the sea- he could have
• But bless God- the tithe does stuff. It gets people saved and delivered and set free. 
• 200k for 2 guys. Its worth it- IT was worth it to them wasn’t it? 
• Pastor Jay, Dan, Alex- what they do in saving lives is worth every penny. Ill pay any levy. 
• Love God- don’t love stuff or money. Let pigs die so others may live

3.They begged him because they believed the narrative 

• 33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.
• You know man- there’s been a lot of talk about “believing the narrative” and if you don’t know what it means- it means this- The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, otherwise known as the frequency illusion or recency bias, is a situation where something you recently learned about suddenly seems to appear everywhere. There are two reasons for this phenomenon — first, selective attention, which means your brain is subconsciously seeking out more information on the subject. Second, confirmation bias, which means every time you see something related to the subject, your brain tells you that it’s proof the subject has gained popularity overnight.
• What does this have to do with marketing? A lot. Once your customers believe something to be true about your product, they’ll look for evidence to support it and ignore evidence to the contrary.
• https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/baader-meinhof-phenomenon#:~:text=Baader%2DMeinhof%20Phenomenon%20(a.k.a.%20the,suddenly%20seems%20to%20appear%20everywhere.
• What does that mean in todays language? Is once the news makes something news- everyone sees it everywhere and looks for it everywhere- so you think its everywhere- you believe what they tell you- and change the way you view the world, racism, guns, corona
• Do you notice you never saw how many cars were on the road like yours until you bought it? Every house is for sale when you’re selling? Stop lights only seem long when you’re waiting for them?
• How does that coincide with this scripture?
• These people of the city didn’t see Jesus do anything- they believed what someone else told them
• They believed whatever narrative these pigless people told and jumped on the bandwagon
• The believed the narrative- Jesus bad- pigs good- 
• Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
• John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
• Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
• John 17:14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
• Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
• Luke 6:26 Woe [a]to you when [b]all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
• James 4:4 [a]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• Proverbs 5:20-21 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He [a]ponders all his paths.
• Psalm 118:8-9 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.

Pastor Matt Krachunis preaches on “They Begged Him to Depart”. Please share online for others to see.

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