Sometimes we resist God’s work in our lives not because we don’t want things to get better, but because we’re afraid of what it might cost us.
Sermon Title: THE CONVERSATIONS JESUS DIDN’T HAVE
Sermon Text: MARK 5:1-20 (ESV)
Sermon Series: EXPANDING THE MISSION: THE KINGDOM UNFOLDS
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
MARK 5:1-20 NIV
1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.
2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.
3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain.
4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.
7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”
8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”
10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.”
13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man--and told about the pigs as well.
17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.
19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
Sometimes, the most powerful moments in Scripture aren’t about what was said—they’re about what wasn’t.
With the disciples: “Why are we going there?”
MARK 4:35 NIV
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
The disciples simply trusted the destination because they trusted the One calling them there.
We are called to a kind of obedience that isn’t reckless but rooted.
We demand so much certainty, so much explanation, so much guarantee of success that we never actually step out in faith.
With the townspeople: “What about the cost?”
If cost becomes our bottom line, we will miss the miracles in front of us.
Some decisions don’t require extended conversation; they require character.
Sometimes we resist God’s work in our lives not because we don’t want things to get better, but because we’re afraid of what it might cost us.
With the healed man: “Why can’t I come with you?”
Sometimes the hardest thing Jesus asks of us isn’t to go, but to stay.
Sometimes the most powerful mission strategy isn’t sending people away — it’s sending them back, armed with nothing but their story and the scars that prove it’s true.