In this piece, we want to look at something that I believe is going to also provoke us to pray and to guide us as a people, as a nation to what God would have us do as such a time as this. We want to look at Following Jesus in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities. It looks like a research work, does it not? Alright! But we are not going to be looking at it as researchers, we are going to be looking at it as disciples of Jesus.
One of the things that we come to understand is that God knows that we are in Nigeria, and God knows that we are Nigerians. However, God has expectation for us. There was a particular church in the Book of Revelations, where Jesus Himself said to that church, I know where you are dwelling, where Satan's throne is. So it's possible for you to be dwelling in Nigeria, and it's possible for you to be a Nigerian. I don't know whether the throne of Satan is where you are, but Jesus is aware of your state. Jesus is aware of the state you are living in, and He is aware of your location. However, He has an expectation for each one of us, in spite of where we are.
I want us to open our Bibles to the Book of Luke chapter 8 verse 26. We want to study about a man that we are familiar about or familiar with. Luke chapter 8 verse 26 to 39, 26 “Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes,” the country of the what? Gadarenes! When we talk about Nigeria, we talk about Nigeria being a country. So, you can replace the Gadarenes with the country of Nigeria, or to the country of the Africans, “Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes which is opposite Galilee.”
27 “And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city” So, you are seeing things like the country, you are seeing something like the city, you are seeing something like the land. So, this is about a specific country, a specific nation, a specific people. And what was true to them, could be true to us, or to some of us. It says, “There met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.”
If we can pause there, we began by looking at the country of the Gadarenes, just like we could say the country of the Nigerians, or the country of the African continent. And the Bible says a man met Jesus. However, there was something about that man that the Bible says had persisted for a long time. We are looking at a country, we met a man, and we met a situation. And in case you think that matter just took place in the Bible, it can never happen. Don't forget, you are also a woman or a man, you are living in a country. So don't think what happened to that man is not happening in our own time. I don't want to personalize it that it is not happening in some of us or in our lives.
The Bible says this thing has happened or had happened for a long time. For the Bible to call it a long time, we must understand that it was actually long. What was long? The Bible says, “who had demons for a long time.” Yet we're talking about Nigeria not just being politically independent, but must be spiritually independent. Independent from forces of darkness that rules it, that subdues it. I remember again in Genesis 1:26, God said, let Us make man in Our image. God, the sovereign ruler of the whole universe said let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness, and let them have dominion.
So, according to God, the dominion over the earth, including Nigeria where we are living in has been given to you and I as men and women. So, if a man is not dominating, that means some spirits are dominating. If a man is not exercising dominion in a space, that means some demons, some unclean spirits are exercising dominion. If that was the will of God for mankind, Jesus wouldn't do much to this situation or to this man.
Did we see, for those of us who are familiar with this story, that as soon as Jesus saw this man who had demons for a long time, Jesus said, “how are you Mr. demon possessed? Well done! Bye-bye! Enjoy yourself.” Is that what happened? That means, that situation was not divine expectation. It had been a reality for a long time, but that wasn’t the perfect will of God for His people. This man, even though he is a man, he represents a group of people, he represent a generation. It could represent a group of youths under 25 years all over Nigeria. It could mean the group of sex; it could mean a male gender or a female gender. It could mean many things. But we must not take that man to represent an individual.
So, when Jesus met that man who was demon possessed, if we want to really get understanding, we could be looking at Jesus meeting a whole generation, filled with millions of Nigerians who are possessed by demons. And because it had been for a long time, we now think it's normal.
Now, it's possible for us to look at our communities today, and see men and women dressed in a certain way, and we see boys and girls behave in a certain way. And see people act in a manner and we ask ourselves, what is going on with people? What is happening to the youth of our generation? The youth of our generation are simply in this context, men and women who have a spirit that is inside of them for a very long time and it has shapen the culture of a whole generation that we call it, that is the new trend in our nation. But Jesus said, before you conclude that it's a new trend, it's a new culture that is emerging, remember, a demon is responsible for this.
Please, let's settle it. The fact that the wrong we see around us has been for a long time, doesn't mean it must be a culture that must be accepted. Jesus did not accept the culture of this man. The way of life of this man, Jesus didn't allow it to continue. For those of us that have not read this lately, we would soon see it. Jesus knew that the culture must be changed for other people to be affected, and for the whole country to be a better place. So, as it were, knowing that even though this is not all the people in the land, this is one of the people. If I can touch this one, I can touch the whole nation. If I can touch or save this generation, I can save a whole generation.
Do you know the number of Nigerians that are below 30 years? Do you know the number of Nigerians that are below 25 years? Even when we get agitated over the youths of Nigeria that behave anyhow, do we know the number of Nigerians that are above 50 years? Now if we play a scenario of two or three things, let's say four things. Number one, adultery. Number two, drunkenness. Number three, stealing. Number four, lying. Lying, which married with stealing will lead to corruption.
Do you know how many Nigerians above the age of 50 are lying and drinking alcohol, are womanizing, committing adultery? Do we know the percentage of Nigerians that are above 50, they look like dry fish that cannot be bent again, like a generation that is doomed, who is willing and ready to corrupt the coming generation? When we hear universities that students are molested by the lecturers, are they molested by their 25 year-old lecturers? No! It is a generation. And whether you like it or not or whether you are aware of it or not, it is going on in universities, it is going on in our schools. This is a whole generation.
So, when Jesus was meeting that madman of Gadara, Jesus was meeting a whole generation. And what Jesus did to the madman of Gadara, if Jesus could do it to a generation today, Jesus can save a whole nation. That is why our focus is looking at following Jesus in Nigeria. What are the challenges? What are the opportunities, both to us, who are followers and to the kingdom of God? What are the things that will happen if only we can really follow Jesus as Nigerians?
For those of us who are familiar with this place, And Bible says, the country of the Gadarenes, Luke chapter 8 verse 26 to 39. And the bible says it is opposite Galilee. All those places, are they not places where Jesus frequently visit? Do they do like the Persian kingdom? So, can it be that this is a nation that God had loved from long time ago? This is a nation that had been aware of God and yet somebody was in that nation possessed of demons. It is possible for it to happen to a whole group of people in Nigeria who professes to believe in God, who we could call believers, who we could call followers of Jesus.
You know, there is a difference between people saying, I follow Jesus and Jesus saying these people are following me, there are two different things. It is possible for a group of people who are following Jesus, and who had been following Jesus for a long time to get into this situation where we categorize them as being possessed of demons. And the Bible says for a long time. They come to church on Sunday, they pay their tithes and offering, they dance, and any new dancing steps that are introduced into the society, they danced it in the church. And Pastor has been preaching to them for years, nothing has happened to them. Yet, they are in the midst of God's people. And before we start worrying and getting ourselves agitated in our minds, what is the cause of this? Jesus said, possessed of demon.
You know, there is a Scripture where I wanted to use a phrase from it, an enemy has done this. While men slept, an enemy has done this. This is supposed to be someone who is a firebrand, an ambassador of Christ, one who is supposed to be an example to the Gentile nations. Yet, he is possessed of demons, and it had been for a long time. How come nobody saw him? How come no system was put in place to rescue him or her over those years? That is why we don't want to just say we want to follow men, or I want to follow denominations. We are like, how can people be really salvaged? Because in this era, there were synagogues, there were places of worship that people go to on Saturday. Those places were existing, and yet this man was possessed. So, we would have churches in every street in Nigeria, and yet, youths will still be lost.
So now, let's read on and remember where we are living in as a people. Let's go to that verse 27 again. 27 ‘And when He, talking about Jesus, had stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. What are the symptoms? Let’s see the symptoms. It wasn't because he was not beautiful that people got to know he had demons. It wasn't because of all that. The Bible says, “And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.” He didn't do it because he didn't love clothes as a man. He didn't do it because he hated houses. He did it because an enemy has done this.
There was another Scripture where the Bible also shows us that a particular young man possessed by demons, the Bible says a spirit seized him and took him from one place and threw him somewhere. A spirit seized him! We can consider this man to be a man who has been seized by demon or by demons. He didn’t hate clothes, but the spirits made him to hate it. And you wouldn't dare talk about dressing with clothes beside him, then you are looking for violence or trouble.
Is that not what we see around us? Do we think people who don't want to wear clothes or don't want to dress decently they are in their right senses? Because we would soon see the senses here. The Bible says he could not live in houses. You know when the Bible says there is no peace for the wicked. The man is not at rest. You have to be at rest to be in your own house. You sit down on your own chair or you lie down in your bed; you are at rest.
When you know you have looked for trouble yesterday, anybody can come and look for your trouble, nobody will teach you to run away from your house. So, he has looked for people’s trouble to a point that he cannot even stay anywhere that he can call a house. He had to be finding solace in uncomfortable places, why? A spirit was moving him.
So in case you have been looking at your community and you have been looking at things happening online, you've been seeing things, now that we've seen all these things, is it still possible to follow Jesus in this Nigeria? The Bible says in verse 28, “when he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!”
I know I do not deserve your mercy, but do not judge me. I can imagine a man of God walking up to a man that is heavily tattooed. And you know, and he's even walking like this, the trouser is somewhere. As soon as he sees you saying, young man, how are you? He knows first thing, you don't look like him, what is in him is not in you. A different spirit is in you. The first thing he wants to say is, don't come here and be telling me, I'm going to go to hell. You will see the violent spirit reacting immediately. So what do you do? Because this our message today is double sided, there is an aspect of it that brings us to a place of following Jesus, and there is an aspect of it that shows us what we must do as followers of Jesus in Nigeria.
Are we supposed to play the game or the card of just following things cool calm and collected and being quiet, looking for nobody's trouble, nobody's looking for our trouble, or are we supposed to be doing certain things?
He says, I beg You, do not torment me. Now, let's take that word, I beg you. When a Nigerian violent young boy is telling you, I beg you, do not torment me. Do we think he will say, I beg you, do not torment me? Somebody that is high with weed will say calmly, I beg you, do not torment me. When you look at his eyes, you will still be seeing violence. So it can come to us in our own generation in different form. Somebody telling you, if you don't want me to kill you, don't talk to me about Jesus. If you don't want me to hit you with something, don't show me that what I'm doing is wrong. Do you know how many years I've been doing this? Do you know this is how I've been able to feed my mother and my father, this way of life? And when the person is talking violently, do you say, “I rest my peace, I'm so sorry for disturbing you, and you go your way?” Is that what Jesus did? That's the second side of our consideration.
After begging Jesus, which I don't want us to focus on the begging, like the word, please. For our own, let's understand that it will not come to us like that. A violent man will not be saying please, leave me alone. He won’t come like that. That woman that we are trying to preach to, stop your prostitution! Stop all these things. She will not come nice and smiling. She will come with a very red eye, threatening us. Are we going to give her that peace she is asking for or we're going to mount pressure on her?
Verse 29, For He, that is Jesus, had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. You know, there is a place in Zachariah, talking about a firebrand, if I want to paraphrase that place, is this not supposed to be a firebrand, a man plugged out of fire? You're supposed to be hot, but see your situation. And look at it, the Bible says for He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. This is a man that should be in dominion. It is we that should be dominating the demons.
If Jesus met that man dominating demons, Jesus will rejoice in His spirit and worship God and walk off or walk away. But instead of the man dominating demons, demons were dominating him. And Jesus had commanded the spirit to come out. “You don't have any reason to be in her or to be in him. Come out!”
So, when we find somebody or we find a man or a woman possessed by a demon, and don't forget, possessed by demon does not always have to lead to madness that we call madness on the streets. There are mad men in bank,; there are mad men in places. There are mad women who don't look mad. One of the features of madness as we have seen here is, the Bible says he wore no clothes. I've seen a lot this year 2023, it looks like the more the economy crumbles in Nigeria, or the economy gets worse, the more some women throw away clothes. I was telling my wife, it's like, that's the only thing they've got, and they still have to eat. So, as the economy gets tighter, not because they cannot afford cloth that is the problem, but they need to remove the cloth further, there is a spirit behind it.
And you know, some people have also mentioned that poverty is a spirit. And we can also say poverty is a tool by the great to control the small, because it is difficult to tell a rich Nigerian woman to go naked. It is easier to tell a poor Nigerian woman to go naked than to tell a rich one. But, when the poverty heats up, the girl is no more in control, the poverty then becomes like a demon that tells her what to do. For 5000 naira, you can imagine what an average Nigerian youth can do. Imagine that Nigerian government pays an average youth 50k, the current 50k of Nigeria every month. Who will do rubbish for 5000 naira, when you can be given 50,000 naira for just being a citizen.
So, as we become poorer, as if we are getting more possessed, we let go of our control, of our authority over demons, principalities and powers. The things that we're supposed to control, they begin to control us. And the Bible says Jesus had commanded the spirit to come out of him: you don't deserve to be there. When God made this man, He didn't make him to have you in him. God didn't envisage you or envision you to be the energy, the force that pulls him forward or pushes him forward.
When God was creating: let Us make man, God was not looking at a situation where that man will exercise dominion because a demon will be in him.
In Nigeria, when will go to our parks, our NURT parks, our motor parks, do you see people get to power in those places to the degree of the Holy Spirit inside of them? You will find out that, the more people get increased in the number of demons they house; the more they are ranked among their peers. So, the more they get possessed, the more people will exalt them. So, instead of the Holy Spirit putting people in places of authority, demons are setting people in places.
And what did Jesus do? Come out of her! Come out of him! Let his life return back to how God designed it. God didn’t envisage these demons to be in this body, come out of this man. Is this not supposed to be a firebrand? Is this not supposed to be a dominion entity in this city, in this land? Is this not supposed to be one who gives direction to the principalities and powers in this area? Is this not supposed to be setting an example, how come he is the one that is following the examples of others? So, what happens? When you refuse to follow Jesus, you follow the example set by others. And if you don't follow Jesus, you will follow demons.
How many of us here, haven been following Jesus, we can say, Jesus is messing us up? How many of us can say we are naked? How many of us can say we don't live in houses, we live in burial grounds? How many of us can say that? No! because Jesus doesn't do that. The Spirit of the Lord does not lead you into that. Very soon, you will soon realize that this man did not get to that point that Jesus met him by himself, he was led! The demons that were in him were leading him.
You shouldn't be led by demons. You must be led by Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ must lead you. That is why, whether you are in Nigeria that looks corrupt or you are not in Nigeria, as long as you want to matter, by the way, except those who are not in Nigeria, for those of us who are in Nigeria, we are in Nigeria and we know what goes on in Nigeria. The word of the Lord to you is, in spite of what is happening to you in Nigeria, in your place of residence, there is something God expect from you. God does not want you to follow demons there; God wants you to follow Jesus there. Even there, yes, that city, that country, that place that you live in, Jesus can lead you there. “Come out of him, so that he can become what God has ordained him to be.”
In case you are here or you are listening, and you know yourself, that your life is not right, don't get panicking or anything, don't doubt. “I speak the word of the Lord Jesus Christ to my life, every spirit that is not of God in me, come out of me.” It is a simple command. By the word of the Lord, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, every spirit that is in me, that is not from the Lord Jesus Christ, that is not from God get out of me now in Jesus name. When you pray that prayer, don't doubt it, it has happened, immediately!
The Bible says for He had commanded, no wonder they were begging. So after the command, it is begging, begging to negotiate, not the disobedience but to negotiate the obedience. They were not saying Jesus, we are not coming out. No, they were saying, Jesus, we are coming out but can you please permit us not to go to hell at this time, let us go to this.
Jesus said come out. Jesus didn't say come out and go to. If Jesus had specified where they were going to, they didn't even have any option. Jesus said come out of him. So, they were negotiating the direction of their obedience, they wanted to be guided. Sir, if you send us to abyss, You are tormenting us, we will start our torment immediately now. But if you can send us to this place, then that means you are showing us some mercy of some kind. And Jesus said go ahead, but you cannot stay here.
Demons cannot stay in my life. Demons cannot stay in the life of my children. You see your boy or your daughter behaving in a way that you think is not correct, don't think it is just a youthful exuberance; you are just pampering demonic expression. By the time the girl or the boy grows up, the girl and the boy will never even believe it is a demon that has been causing it, because she will believe that's just me oh. Imagine a girl telling her mummy that is just me, if you can't get that into your empty skull. “Or mummy, just fuck off there.” All manner of things you will be hearing from a seventeen year old. Why? She has been talking nonsense since eleven, the mother never warned it. The mother never called out that spirit to come out. As a mother, as a father, you have the authority under God to call out of your son’s life, of your daughter's life, any spirit that is not of God. Jesus was acting like a father to that man, He said, come out!
“Any spirit that is not of God in the life of my children, come out! Come out of them now, come out of him now! Oh demons, get out! Any tree that my Father has not planted, they shall be uprooted!”
Please, when you see a man of God or a woman of God, a daughter of God, a son of God, behave in a manner that represent what we just mentioned earlier. Sister Joy mentioned lying. I mentioned stealing, adultery, fornication, drinking alcohol and telling yourself a little wine is not bad. And then once you are drunk, you are lost. You say rubbish, you think rubbish, you do rubbish, you regret every time you drink alcohol and you are a man of God, you are a daughter of God. Don't think you don't know what is going on. What is going on is simple, demons have taken over you. It could be one, it could be two, it could be hundred, it could be thousands, they've taken over. And you cannot lose this battle because victory has been guaranteed in Christ, yours is to claim the victory that you have in Jesus, in the name of Jesus, “Oh, you demons inside of me, lurking around my members, expressing yourselves in adultery, in lustful thinking, in any kind of thing that is not right, I command you get out! Get out!”
We cannot be pampering ourselves. We cannot be pampering demons and spirits. We cannot say well, you know, we just have to conduct ourselves in a civil manner. You know, these spirits, God created them, they need a space after all. They cannot be in your own space. They can't make your own life to be miserable. Your life cannot be subject to experiments. You cannot love demons more than the Word of God. The Word of God is come out. Come out of come her, come out of him. That's the word of God.
Do you remember that girl? The Bible says, she was bringing profit to her masters through the spirits that possessed her. Demon was in her, and the business was booming because of it. And she saw Apostle Paul and the rest and say, these are men of God. She kept on saying this as if that’s wrong, Apostle Paul got vexed within himself, and called the spirit to come out. There was no dragging, no fighting. He said come out, and immediately the demon left. That is to show us the authority we have in Christ. As we follow Jesus, we have the ability to command spirits to come out. That is not where God told them to be. They have lost their primary abode, they cannot take accommodation in your own life. Your marriage cannot be their accommodation. You command them to come out. As you can command spirits to come out of your children, you can command spirits to come out of your marriage.
Suddenly, you realize that a little talk between you and your wife, it has led to arguments; argument today, and argument tomorrow, arguments! Don't get worried, command that spirit to come out; it is a spirit. It is difficult for people to behave in a way they don't like every time. If you behave in a way you don't like or you don't expect every time that means something else is involved, command that spirit to come out. And that will be our experience in Jesus name.
The Bible says in verse 29, 29”for He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for it had often seized him and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.” So, in case somebody wants to know, how did he get to that place that Jesus met him? Demons drove him there, like the way a driver will take some of us to town, when we are going into town with car. Demons drove him there. The man can't explain how he got there. The last time he remembered, he was in his own house. The next thing he could see is that he was now in the wilderness.
You know, there is this guy that just died in Nigeria’s music industry. I think some people were saying like maybe he was in the choir in his church growing up and a Christian. But you will hardly find any Christ around him before he died. He had gone. The question is, how did he get to that wilderness? They call it record label. Even though, it brought fame and money, how did he get to that wilderness? A demon drove him there. It could be a demon of fame, a demon of many things.
When he was there, he had access to money, access to women, and access to popularity. But God didn't take him there. And you know, the funniest thing is that demons that take people there, don't keep people there. People are kept there at the mercy of God's mercy. I don't know anyone of us had thought about why madmen and women are still alive. It's not because the spirit like them to be alive, particularly, if they die in the madness, the demons know they are going to hell. So, they've achieved their purpose. What is still keeping them alive? Is it not possible for demons to be jumping from madman to madman to madman daily? Why do they keep staying in that particular person? Is it because they've not led that guy towards the trailer to hit him? This is also what we have to also learn.
Sometimes we assume demons wants to stay alive inside the person. Why didn't they keep the swine? When they entered the swine, why didn't they keep them? Some people said the swine prefer to die than to accommodate the demons. So, the mercy of God has been keeping the madman of Gadara alive. So, demons drove people to wilderness, wilderness of sin, wilderness of lust, wilderness of pride. The devil will not keep them there even though he has driven them there: many people die there. It is mercy that keeps some people, till they get mercy.
Imagine when Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the church, imagine that he died in the midst of it. Would he go to heaven? Would he reign with Christ? But the mercy of God! That's why he kept saying, I am what I am by the grace of God. He is like God showed me mercy.
Jesus, in verse 30, asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.” Of course, this can be a discussion for another day. How they entered him? Was he sleeping? What happened? What's the process? We can look at it, if the Lord shows us that mercy.
Verse 31, 31 “And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them.”
It is like some of us, even though we may not want to quickly agree. When we say the herd of swine, do we have an idea of how many pigs were there? Do we think they will be like five, ten? Plenty! Yet, Jesus valued the man more than them. The Bible says, are you not of much value than the birds of the air?
Verse 33, “then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine.” In case somebody asks, is it possible for demon to get out of people's lives? This is an example, it is possible. And let me just say this, as soon as we started this message we began by talking about how a man can be in a city and that man can represent a whole generation. How many of us can say, when we were born from our mother's womb, we were born again, and we became filled with the Holy Spirit and till date we have been? You know that is a bit difficult.
Many of us had gone! As soon as we were growing up, we were growing up in sin. And let me tell us emphatically, many of us were growing up filled with demons. Me, I can say I was, filled with demons, I don't know their number. I remember before I gave my life to Christ, when I entered the boarding school, I repeated my SS 2, so they felt the only way they can guarantee me success, if at all in the future, is that I should repeat and if I repeat, I should not stay at home and repeat, I should go to the boarding house.
So, I got to the boarding house. You say small thing inside boarding house, is a serious curse and is a Yoruba curse. And when I'm doing it, I do it with drama, with aggression. I know there were spirits producing it. Small thing like this, it doesn’t matter, I will reign curse upon you, and I was always violent. Before I repeated, I'll be playing draft with Alfas, you know, Muslim clerics, they were very good, people from Kogi that had read Koran up and down. I'll be playing draft with them as a young boy, I'll be winning, I'll be doing fine. I was failing in class, I was succeeding under the tree. And you think that young boy was not demon possessed? I will win money, like we will bet money, I will win and I will cook rice, buy drinks, buy egg, buy everything. I'll be eating and I'll be boasting how I'm using the money of the big people to enjoy myself. You know, when they say, “Ope” in Yoruba, Otanje ope o gbodo fo un.” You know this Yoruba way of saying, you are a winner, you are a champion, some people are losers and defeated.
That was how I was boasting about people that were 15 years, 13 years 12 years older than me. And you will think I was not possessed, you think it was the Holy Spirit? So, I left that experience cursing people everywhere. So, under one year, God helped me and I became gentle. The house mistress met me on the end of the year, graduation or so, she was like “Gboyega, it looks like you are now born again.” I said, “yes ma.” I was scoring thirty something, then I started scoring eighty something. I was no more cursing people.
You could not say this one is my girlfriend; that I'm following girl. Everything just changed. So, you think demons were not chased out? So, in case you think you didn't have demons in those days, I'm just telling you, you had. Thanks to God. If you don't have those demons again, Jesus did it for you. He can do it for other people, just go about commanding the demons out of them.
The Bible says 33”then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.”36 “They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 “Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region,” maybe from West Africa, to East Africa to South Africa and North Africa, across the world, of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them.
Imagine! You know, we're talking about the challenges of following Jesus, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. Jesus got into the boat and returned. 38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your own house,” that very thing demons drove you away from, that your marriage that demons drove you away from, that your business that demons made you to close, that project that you started that they told you, you can succeed and you abandoned it out of fear, out of frustration. Jesus says, return to it. And I'm sure Jesus is talking to somebody today. Return to the good things that you have abandoned before you became possessed.
And tell, and another word for tell for some of us might be and do, manifest, demonstrate what great things God has done for you. Go about, go back to your house, go back to your business, go back to your office, go and show them how Jesus has changed you. And the Bible says, and he went his way. That's why we were saying that where you are right now, I don't know the name of that place, even that particular place you can be a follower of Jesus there. It could be Kenya, it could be Brazil. You can be a follower of Jesus in that Brazil, in that Kenya.
And the word of the Lord is, stay in that your house there, in that your city there and begin to tell people, begin to show people, begin to demonstrate to the people how God has been good to you, how God has changed you, how God has changed your fortune from nothingness to something, from a nobody to somebody, from somebody who is a failure to somebody who is succeeding, from somebody who is given to nightmares and all manner of fears to somebody who is bold and courageous. You sleep in peace, you wake up in peace, you sleep tired, and you wake up strong.
And the Bible says, and he went his way, and proclaimed throughout the whole city. He proclaimed! Who would have thought that this man can be going about proclaiming? Is he a pastor? Is he a prophet? Who is he? He is that madman of Gadara. He is no more a madman of Gadara; he is now the changed man in Christ Jesus. He is now a follower of Jesus.
And Bible says, he went throughout the whole city. I don't know how big our cities are, let's go throughout it. I don't know how big our communities are, let's go throughout it. I don't know how big our generations are, let's go throughout our generation. As many people within our generation that we can reach out to, let's reach out to them. What great things Jesus has done for him.
The Bible says, when they saw the boldness of the disciples, they saw their boldness, they saw everything about them, they said, and they knew they were not product of all those Gamaliel and the Pharisees; they said, these ones must have been with Jesus. So, they are now showing us what it is to have been with Jesus. Have you been with Jesus? Show everybody around you. Has Jesus made a difference in your life? Let somebody get to know. Let it reflect in how you dress, in how you talk, in how you address people.
